UKRAINIAN soldiers fought off a blitz from Russian troops to hold a crucial road junction in a historic and courageous show of resistance.
Troops, dug in along the E40 highway near Beresteiska Metro Station five miles west of Kyiv city centre, were subjected to a withering bombardment.
Ukrainian trucks and armoured vehicles erupted in flames under a hail of shells and rockets as Vladimir Putin’s elite special forces swept in.
Myself and photographer Doug Seeburg had driven to Lviv along that road earlier, past their makeshift fortress, and watched in awe at their resolve.
Just hours later, we learned they had come under that bloody attack — and the aftermath of their fight was laid bare in these pictures.
Yet still, a motley but magnificent band of brothers — ranging from special forces commandos and machine gunners to civilian pensioners toting rifles — somehow managed to repel the attack in street-to-street fighting.
The busy junction on the highway heading west to Poland had been thronged with thousands of refugees fleeing the fighting in a gridlocked tailback of vehicles.
But Russian troops and tanks then surged into the area under cover of darkness yesterday, attempting to tighten their stranglehold on Kyiv.
Yet they did not count on the fighting spirit of the Ukrainian forces.
Embattled President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Beresteiska fightback had helped push the war into a crucial phase.
The key battle came after fierce fighting in which several cities were put under all-out assault.
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But by last night, the Russian tyrant’s henchmen had still to secure the vital foothold he craves in the capital.
On Friday, as we crawled by this point in gridlocked tailbacks among thousands of refugees, I saw Ukrainian fighters hurriedly prepare their defences.
Photographer Doug captured a string of poignant images of soldiers preparing for battle amid refugee panic.
A chubby reservist in helmet and combat gear stifled a nervous yawn as he puffed on a fag.
A much older defender, swathed in fading camouflage gear and a green beanie hat, grimaced as he shuffled into position close by, clutching an assault rifle.
Anxious young men guarding bridges shared jokes to calm their fear as a mum in a scarlet coat bolted to join families fleeing with suitcases along the highway below.
And professional fighter comrades nervously scanned the horizon as they mustered around an armoured personnel carrier mounted with a 30mm canon.
This was the scene we witnessed at around noon — the calm on the eve of Putin’s firestorm — before harrowing pictures emerged from the same spot at dawn yesterday.
The new photos revealed vehicles that were blown to pieces and blazing wreckage littering the road in the shadow of residential blocks packed with cowering families.
As sunrise revealed the battlefield, the hopelessly outgunned Ukrainian force was somehow still standing.
A thin pall of smoke hovered above a blast site next to a military truck emblazoned with a Ukrainian crest as soldiers tended to a wounded comrade close by.
Incredibly, and against all odds, Ukrainian forces still controlled the intersection and had come through “the hardest night” predicted by their commanders.
It is difficult to imagine a scenario in which some of the men we watched digging in before did not make “the ultimate sacrifice” as the battle raged.
But as a group, they had stood firm and — like comrades across this besieged city — continued to confound military strategists and the bloodthirsty pariah who triggered this madness.
As the darkness, which locals have come to dread, fell last night, they were taking up their defences once again.
The sound of air raid sirens and bombs rang out across Kyiv yesterday amid waves of Russian attacks.
But Ukrainian government officials stressed they still fully controlled the capital and vowed to fight on to stop Putin’s plan to “decapitate” their democracy.
- RUSSIA has been dealt a blow after two of China’s largest state-owned banks limited credit to buy their oil and gas.
Samuel Armstrong, of the national security think tank Henry Jackson Society, said: “When even China won’t stand with you, you’ve run out of road. Putin should realise his mad plans have been found out.”
