The Battle of Ilovaisk of August 2014 is the most tragic and yet one of the least understood episodes in Russia’s war in eastern Ukraine.
Ilovaisk was supposed to be where Ukraine’s army would break Russia’s proxy forces. But it turned into a bloody slaughter that ended the Ukrainian army’s advances, and left hundreds dead.
It was also the first time Russia openly sent thousands of its regular army soldiers into Donbas to fight Ukrainian troops. The Kremlin denies doing so but an overwhelming amount of evidence proves its denials to be false.
The Battle of Ilovaisk changed the course of the war, forcing Ukraine’s authorities into a humiliating peace deal in Minsk. Read More.
Entering Ilovaisk
Ukrainian volunteer battalions and regular army troops, including the 51st Brigade and the 17th Tank Brigade, push into Ilovaisk, but are not backed up by heavy artillery. After the attack, they withdraw from the occupied part of the city, which is bisected by a railroad, but gain a foothold in a local school.
Fighting in and around Ilovaisk
Soldiers of the Donbas volunteers battalion try to extend their control over the whole of Ilovaisk, while Ukrainian troops around the city continue to fight Russian-led forces in the villages of Hrabske, Zelene and Vynohradne.
More volunteers arrive as reinforcements
Soldiers of the Dnipro 1 volunteer battalion enter Ilovaisk from the southwest, through the village of Hrabske, to reinforce the Donbas battalion. Their attempts to enter the city through the village of Vynohradne to the east of Ilovaisk are repulsed by strong counter attacks by Russian-led forces. The Dnipro 1 battalion then digs in at a local kindergarten.
Blowing up railways in Ilovaisk
Ukrainian troops in Ilovaisk continue their attempts to occupy the entire city, but to no avail. Ukrainian forces decide to blow up the rail lines in Ilovaisk to prevent Russian-led forces from bringing in reinforcements and ammunition from Donetsk, Khartsyzsk and Russia.
First report of Russians entering Ukraine
Reports start to come in from Ukraine’s border with Russia that Russian regular army troops have entered Ukrainian territory and are heading towards Ilovaisk.
First clashes with the Russians
More volunteer battalion soldiers manage to enter Ilovaisk. Meanwhile, an anti-tank unit of the 51th brigade spots three Russian airborne combat vehicles, and destroys them. Later in the day, near the village of Dzerkalne, a reconnaissance unit of the 51th brigade captures ten Russian paratroopers who had fled from the knocked-out armored vehicles. They admit to being regular troops from Russia’s 331st Airborne Regiment, based in Kostroma, northeast of Moscow.
Fears of encirclement
Russian troops move further into Ukrainian territory, forcing Ukrainian army units positioned near the border to withdraw westward. Ukrainian soldiers based in Mnohopillya, just south of Iloviask, observe Russian armored columns moving through Amvrosiyivka, Kuteynikove and Novy Svit, raising fears of encirclement. Next to the village of Dzerkalne, Ukrainian soldiers from the 51th brigade capture two Russian paratroopers from Russia’s 31st Airborne Assault Brigade, which is based in Ulyanovsk. After a short firefight, Ukrainian soldiers also capture a new Russian T-72B3 tank next to the village of Ahronomichne.
Ilovaisk attacked with Grad rockets
Colonel Yevhen Sydorenko uses the captured Russian tank to reinforce the anti-tank unit of the 51th brigade, led by Captain Kostiantyn Koval, at his position near the village of Mnohopillya, south of Ilovaisk.
A dozen soldiers from Koval’s unit manage to stop a Russian military column of about 16 vehicles that was heading from Kuteinikove to Ilovaisk. They knock out three Russian multipurpose light armored transporters, and capture one soldier, who later says he is a soldier of Russia’s 8th Motorized Brigade, based in the village of Borzoi, Chechnya.
A last convoy of wounded soldiers manages to leave Ilovaisk.
Russians completely encircle Ukrainian troops in Ilovaisk
The families of soldiers surrounded in Ilovaisk picket the Presidential Administration and General Staff in Kyiv, demanding that reinforcements be sent to the city.
In the morning, about 100 soldiers from the 42nd Territorial Defense Battalion head from Kramatorsk by helicopter to break the encirclement of the Ukrainian troops in Ilovaisk. Another group of about 300 soldiers from the 92nd brigade head to Ilovaisk from Kharkiv Oblast with their armored vehicles, on the same mission.
Rescue operation fails
Ukrainian commanders on the ground negotiate with Russian officers for the safe passage of their troops out of encirclement in Ilovaisk. Rescue groups from the 92nd brigade and 42nd battalion fail to reach Ilovaisk after they are shelled in the village of Novokaterynivka.
Late at night, the Kremlin issues a statement from Russian President Vladimir Putin calling on Russian proxy forces to “open a humanitarian corridor for the Ukrainian soldiers, who are trapped in an encirclement, to avoid needless losses.”
Ukrainian commanders in Mnohopillya continue negotiating with Russian officers. The soldiers prepare to leave the besieged city.
Catastrophe
The Russians attack the Ukrainian columns near the villages of Chumaky and Chervonosilske, firing at the mostly civilian vehicles with grenade launchers and machine guns. Hundreds of Ukrainians are killed or taken captive. Dozens of Russian troops are also killed in firefights, according to Ukrainians soldiers. The Ukrainian side then retaliates with air strikes and missile attacks. At the end of the day, the military commanders from both sides start negotiations to end the carnage.
Saving the survivors
Ukraine’s military paramedics start collecting dead and wounded Ukrainian soldiers from the shelled military columns after agreements are reached with Russia’s General Staff. Russian troops and Russian proxy forces start releasing some Ukrainian captives in exchange for several captive Russian soldiers. Dozens of Ukrainian soldiers who survived the massacre attempt to reach Ukrainian military positions on foot.
Ilovaisk: The Aftermath
In the more than three years since the devastating Battle of Ilovaisk, a Russian military offensive in August 2014 that led to the first Minsk (and still unfulfilled) peace agreement, there are still many questions. How many were killed? The official count is 366 Ukrainian soldiers, most killed while retreating on the enemy's false promise of safe passage. Independent investigators believe the casualty count is higher and some Ukrainian soldiers remain missing. Official inquiries found that senior Ukrainian commanders caused the debacle because of poor decisions. But no one has ever been held to account.
