Analysis: Russia lost the battle for Kyiv with its hasty assault on a Ukrainian airport

HOSTOMEL, Ukraine — Days after Russian forces retreated from Kyiv, the northern outskirts of the Ukrainian capital are littered with the charred remains of blown-up and abandoned Russian tanks, armored personnel carriers and other equipment.

The debris is a stark testament to an assault that was meant to oust the Ukrainian government but became a humiliating blunder for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Russia's failure to take the capital came down to a series of misjudgments and strategic errors: an emphasis on vulnerable armored columns, inadequate use of air power, an attack plan that overstretched supply lines, and — most significantly — a clear miscalculation of the Ukrainians' ability and determination to resist.

But experts say there is one place, more than anywhere else, where Putin's vision