![]() By comparison, Baghdad is 673 square kilometers and Mosul is approximately 180 square kilometers. Kyiv’s official size is 839 square kilometers while Kharkiv’s urban footprint is about 350 square kilometers. A city’s physical footprint is the other. Population is only one measurement of urban size. Thus, urban combat in Ukraine is occurring in cities with populations that rival the largest urban battles in military history. Kharkiv’s population is also comparable Manila’s during its 1945 urban battle, and to Seoul’s during the fighting in that city during the Korean War. Kyiv’s population is larger than Berlin’s population of 2.8 million during the climactic battle of World War II in 1945. They are similar in population size to the Iraqi cities of Baghdad and Mosul where US and Iraqi forces conducted urban operations. Kyiv and Kharkiv, with urban populations of 3.5 and 1.2 million, respectively, are extremely large urban areas. More people mean more buildings, streets, and infrastructure to secure or to defend. Two factors play into a city’s size: its population and its physical footprint. An urban area’s size dictates the means necessary to support any operation to defend or attack it. While much of the reporting from Ukraine is one-sided, and thus prone to bias, there appears to be enough evidence to help illuminate these trends. The fighting in Ukraine thus far has verified trends in urban combat demonstrated in other urban battles since World War II and confirms the increasing importance of urban combat in modern war. This short, dramatic fight represents the type of combined arms battle in dense urban terrain that has happened throughout Ukraine and promises to continue to be typical of the fighting in the Russo-Ukrainian War. In the ensuing firefight, the bulk of the Russian force was destroyed on the narrow two-lane road. The column was intercepted and ambushed by a Ukrainian force equipped with Anglo-Swedish Next-generation Light Anti-tank Weapons (NLAWs). The forces were part of the Russian airborne brigade that had captured the important airport at Hostomel. In late February 2022, a company-sized Russian airborne column of armored personnel carriers and armored reconnaissance vehicles made its way south on Vokzalnaya street through the Kyiv suburb of Bucha. ![]()
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