00:00Fact-checking Trump's claim about why Russia failed to capture Kyiv.
00:07Donald Trump has claimed to know why Russian troops failed to capture Kyiv
00:12during the first days of their invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
00:17They would have been in Kyiv in four hours, going down the highway,
00:23but a Russian general made a brilliant decision to go through the farmland instead.
00:27We fact-checked Trump's claims by analysing expert accounts of what really happened
00:33during the first days of Russia's invasion in February 2022.
00:37We found that Russia's attempts to seize Kyiv were thwarted by a combination of Ukraine's military strategy
00:44and logistical and tactical errors on the Russian side.
00:48The mud in the valley of the Irpin River west of Kyiv did obstruct the movement of tanks,
00:54but alone would not have obstructed the Russian offensive.
00:57According to the Institute for the Study of War,
00:59determined and well-organized Ukrainian resistance around Kyiv
01:03played an important role in preventing the Russian military from advancing with speed and success.
01:10Meanwhile, Russian forces did use highways to reach the Ukrainian capital.
01:15According to an analysis by experts at the Modern War Institute,
01:19Russia's forces coming from the border with Belarus covered 150 kilometers of open road
01:25to reach Kyiv's outskirts during the first phase of the Battle of Kyiv in late February.
01:31The experts add that Russians used old maps,
01:34with Ukrainians also removing or painting over as many road signs as they could
01:39to deviate the Russian offensive.
01:41Russia's failure to capture Kyiv was also largely due to what happened in the air,
01:46particularly as Russia failed to gain control of the Hostomel airport 10 kilometers north of Kyiv.
01:51These expert analyses clearly contradict Trump's account of events.
