Helion has been producing books on the Ukraine war for quite some time now and they have all been excellent reads. This volume continues that with a look at the initial Russian invasion and attempt to take the Ukraine capital of Kyiv. Putin deemed this to be very important and felt that taking the capital would put an end to the conflict. He felt that it would end the war in a week. However, things did not go as planned.

The Russians were quite limited on the number of roads that could be used and despite attacking from both sides of the capital, found that the Ukranian soldiers were not going to simply lay down and let the Russians have their way. Due to the limited roads and the widespread destruction of bridges, it was relatively easy to ambush the Russian units and their supply convoys. This left the Russians in a real quandary as without resupply and reinforcements, they found their forces being chipped away little by little. Much of Ukraine's intel came from civilians who were always ready to inform on Russian movements, a tactic that worked quite well and cost many civilians their lives.

Russians tried attack after counter attack and found that they were unable to make the sort of headway they wanted. Eventually, the losses were just too great and in the end Putin blinked and ordered his forces around Kyiv to retreat. This is a quick and dirty explanation of the events of February - April 2022 and the book goes into much greater detail on all these events.

The author has done an excellent job of telling the story and providing a clear sense of what went on in these early months of the war. He has used as many official records as he could obtain from both sides, a job that had to be quite difficult at times. This volume includes the usual full color profiles as well as well-drawn maps and charts to show the ebb and flow of battles. It makes for an excellent read and one that I can quite easily recommend to you along with other titles in the series.  

December 2025

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