>The most important battle was, again, for Kyiv. Russia failed to seize an airport on its outskirts on February 24th, the first day of the war.

Spetsnaz airborne were routed day 1. Was it really just Ukrainians? Or did they have some proxy help?

>Despite its impressive resistance, the city faced the prospect of imminent encirclement.

General mobilization is a huge factor here. Russian troops are fighting against people who have nothing left to lose. encirclement doesnt matter, when they enter the city they will lead with spetsnaz because if they don't... they will take tremendous losses. Russia hasn't even started to see the real resistance yet.