The battle of Donetsk Airport is one of the most tragic, yet legendary episodes of Russia’s war in Donbas.
It lasted from late May 2014 to late January 2015, when just a handful of Ukrainian soldiers and paramilitary fighters held back the Russian-backed militants trying to seize the local airport — the last Ukrainian-controlled part of the city occupied by Russia.
The battle was unprecedentedly tight, with brutal face-to-face fighting over nearly every room and hall of the airport’s two terminals.
The Ukrainian garrison’s stubborn resistance earned the defenders their nickname, “cyborgs,” which went viral on the internet and became iconic for many in Ukraine.
Amid the brutal fighting, the airport was almost completely destroyed.
In January 2015, amid the unfolding battle of Debaltseve, the situation became untenable for Ukrainian defenders.
The Russian-backed militants trapped the last remaining “cyborgs” in the ruins by Jan. 20, 2014. The following day, the few remaining Ukrainian fighters were either killed, taken prisoner or forced to withdraw following the enemy’s final offensive.
Nearly 100 “cyborgs” were killed in action and close to 500 were wounded.
The victory gave the Kremlin nothing but a useless cluster of ruins instead of a working airport. Ukrainian forces are to this day in control of the facility’s immediate surroundings.
January 21 is the remembrance day for one of the war’s most valiant episodes for Ukraine’s soldiers.
On this day, seven years after the final stand in Donetsk airport, civilian activists commemorated the fallen “cyborgs.”
During a mourning ceremony at the Mykhailovska Square in central Kyiv, exactly 244 memorial lights were set up, symbolizing the number of days the Ukrainian garrison defended the hopeless strongpoint against the overwhelming enemy.
