20 March 2022 proved to be a turning point in the battle for Kyiv
20 March is regarded as one of the decisive days in the battles for Moschun, which served as the final line of defence before the capital. General Oleksandr Syrskyi, who was then in command of the defence of Kyiv, remarked:
“Moshchun was the ‘gateway’ to Kyiv. Had they broken through there, they would already have been in Obolon. Our lads held their ground to the very end. The fate of the capital was being decided there.”
During this period, the 72nd Mechanised Brigade, together with special forces units, pushed Russian airborne units back across the Irpin River.
On the 25th day of the invasion, a large column of Russian military equipment, which had entered the Chernobyl zone from Belarus and was moving towards Kyiv, ceased to exist as a single entity.
British intelligence noted in its report of 20 March that the offensive in the north-east of Kyiv had stalled. The occupiers’ equipment had been scattered across forests and settlements due to strikes by Ukrainian mobile groups. According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, dozens of armoured vehicles were destroyed on the outskirts of the capital over the course of the day.
Humanitarian corridors continued to operate on the same day. Thousands of people were evacuated from Bucha and the Brovary district. At the same time, Russian troops intensified their shelling of civilian infrastructure. Residential areas of Irpin and the private sector near Makariv came under fire.
On the night of 20–21 March, Ukraine rejected Russia’s ultimatum to surrender Mariupol. This signalled to Ukrainian units that the defence was to continue.
International experts, notably the ISW, concluded on 20 March that Russia’s initial campaign had failed.
The advance of Russian troops along the right bank of the Dnipro was halted, and the front line stabilised along the Irpin River, making a further advance on Kyiv impossible.
