‘Do not invade Kyiv, we have already lost this war’: the pleas of Russia’s captured pilots

It might have been the honesty of a condemned man who had nothing left to lose. Or it might have been due to the presence of several burly Ukrainian soldiers watching from the back of the room. But when Lieutenant Colonel Maxim Krishtop, a captured Russian pilot, was paraded before TV cameras in Kyiv on Friday afternoon, he gave much more than his name, rank and number.

Shot down during a bombing raid last Sunday, he confessed to dropping tons of bombs on civilian areas, and begged Ukrainians forgive him for his “terrible crimes”. He then issued an appeal to his Russian comrades now encircling Kyiv - where he himself is currently a prisoner of war.

“The invasion of such a huge city as Kyiv is pointless - it will lead to huge losses of life on both sides, and huge destruction,” he said. “I urge you stop following criminal orders, stop fighting, and stop killing civilians - you can see we have already lost this war.”

Maybe Lt Col Krishtop was trying to redeem himself, or maybe he was reciting an agreed line. With his face stony and his voice resigned, he gave little away - beyond saying that he now expected to face a war crimes trial. The substance of his comments, though, did not seem in doubt - an invasion of Kyiv is likely to lead the conflict into bloodshed of an altogether different league.

Yet on Friday, there seemed little sign of Russian forces heeding Lt Col Krishtop's advice. For after a fortnight of concentrating their firepower in cities mainly in Ukraine’s east, signs are finally emerging that Vladimir Putin’s troops may now be laying the groundwork for their long-feared all-out assault on the capital.

The first inklings of this emerged late on Thursday, when photos emerged showing activity within the 40-mile long armoured convoy that has been lurking north-west of the capital. The massive column has spent most of the war almost static, prompting speculation that it had run short of food and fuel. According to satellite imagery released by the analysis firm Maxar Technologies, it has now split up and fanned out into towns and forests near Kyiv, with some of its artillery pieces raised into firing positions.

Armoured units have also been seen pouring into towns near the Hostomel military airport north-west of Kyiv, apparently reinforcing Russian positions in the nearby satellite towns of Bucha and Irpin. The latter two towns are already largely in Russian hands, ready to act as a forward operating base for a push into Kyiv proper. “They’re flowing rear elements closer to the advanced elements,” said one US defence official.

With the column already hit several times by Ukrainian defences, it remains a possibility that the Russian troops are simply dispersing to avoid being sitting ducks. Britain’s Ministry of Defence, though, believes it may be a repositioning for a renewed offensive.

“Logistical issues that have hampered the Russian advance persist, as does strong Ukrainian resistance,” it said in its latest intelligence update. “Russia is likely seeking to reset and re-posture its forces for renewed offensive activity in the coming days. This will probably include operations against the capital, Kyiv.”

True, for most Kyiv residents, such operations may be the first time the sounds of war have come anywhere near their neighbourhoods. Despite footage of Russian attack helicopters and missile-damaged blocks of flats early on in the war, the capital has so far actually been largely spared the violence meted out in other Ukrainian cities. Outside of the north-west, most of the city’s suburbs remain uncontested, save for some small Russian incursions that were beaten back in the first few days. And aside from a missile that hit Kyiv’s main TV station the week before last, the city centre has not been targeted at all.

On Thursday, though, Ukrainian defence officials released footage of a group of Russian tanks that tried to storm their way into the north-east suburb of Brovary the day before. The footage showed the group - which included vehicles carrying thermobaric weapons - being hit by Ukrainian drone missiles as they drove down a motorway. At least four of the 20-odd vehicles were crippled by huge explosions, with the rest of them then driving around in disarray. A senior Russian colonel was said to be among the casualties.

The fact that the tanks were even driving in formation along an open road has surprised Western military experts. Russian forces, they say, still seem to think they can roll into Kyiv unopposed, despite being beaten back several times already by their Ukrainian foes.

“You would only group in that way if you felt relatively secure from attack,” Air Marshal Philip Osborn, a British military expert, told Sky News. “This video proves that was a misjudgment.”

George Barros, a researcher with the US-based Institute for the Study of War, said the Kremlin had assigned “suboptimal units” so far to taking Kyiv. “The Russians took some of the worst units of the Russian army, arrayed them in a poor way, and told them to waltz into Kyiv,” he added.

In Brovary on Friday, smoke could still be seen drifting up from the vanquished tanks, while an acrid burning smell hung in the air. Ukrainian forces blocked off the road several miles from the attack site, saying the area was unsafe to visit.

In the rest of Brovary, life continued in many ways as normal, with shoppers browsing at supermarkets that remained well-stocked with food. Along the main highways, large defences were being erected, with emplacements being dug for tanks and militiamen filling up sandbags. However, the exodus of people from the city - which saw huge queues of traffic fleeing in the first few days - now seems if anything to have reversed.

Watch: Fires burn near Kyiv as satellite images suggest Russian units 'actively firing' at residential areas

“Quite a lot of my friends left Brovary at the beginning of the war to go to stay in the countryside,” said Anton, a Brovary resident. “But some of them are coming back now as they’re bored and they’ve not nothing to do. The fighting does still seem far away, although right now most of us don’t go out very much. I’m not intending to leave myself.”

Vitali Klitschko, Kyiv’s mayor and the former world boxing champion, said on Friday that he believed there were nearly two million people still left in Kyiv, more than half of its normal 3.5 million population. He said that food supply lines through the south of the city remained intact, and that there was enough to last at least another fortnight. Many Ukrainians who had initially fled to western Kyiv, he added, were now returning, having dropped off children or vulnerable relatives near the Polish border.

“Yes there are a lot of refugees who left West, but a lot are coming back to defend the country,” he told Reuters. “This is our home. We are staying here. We are not leaving anywhere.”

Suggestions of coaching from Ukrainians

Fears over the sheer extent of bloodshed resulting from a Russian invasion of the capital may have been one of the reasons why Ukrainian officials chose to put Lt Col Krishtop before the media on Friday.

He appeared alongside two other captured pilots, Alexey Kozlov and Alexey Golovensky, at the headquarters of the Interfax news agency, in what was officially billed as a “news conference”.

While all three claimed to be speaking out of their own free will, they issued near-identical pleas to their fellow Russians to stop the war, suggesting possible coaching by Ukrainian officials.

All three also painted a picture of a Russian army that had vastly underestimated the challenges ahead, and had at times lied to its soldiers.

Mr Govolensky, who was shot down during operations over the city of Nikolaev, said: “We were told that the Ukrainian air defences were old and didn’t work properly, and that we’d never have to get into actual fights. Then I was shot down and realised their defences work perfectly well.

“I was also told that Ukrainians were fascists, but they’re not - I have been treated perfectly well as a PoW, even though I have committed military crimes.”

Lt Col Krishtop said that he had gradually realised that his superiors were expecting them to drop bombs on civilian areas, but that he had done nothing to stop it.

“At first we focused only on military targets, but with every day, more civilian operations were carried out - we were bombarding homes and hospitals. I’d like to think I could have refused to follow those criminal assignments, but I didn’t because I was weak and flawed. I just hope my comrades who are still in the Russian army may do so.”

Asked what the future now held, he predicted a trial for himself in Ukraine, and possibly also proceedings at the Hague criminal court. But he added that Vladimir Putin should be there as well.

“Putin is head of the military services of Russia, and his decisions about the military operations in Ukraine I consider wrong and criminal. We have attacked our brother people for not logical reason, and with no provocation - the consequences of this barbaric action will be with us for generations.”