This article is about the battle fought from 28 September 2014 to 21 January 2015 during the Donbas war. For the battle fought in May 2014, see First Battle of Donetsk Airport.
Second Battle of Donetsk Airport
Part of the Russo-Ukrainian War and War in Donbas
A map of the Donetsk Airport area
Date
28 September 2014[1] – 21 January 2015 (3 months, 3 weeks and 2 days)
Location
Donetsk International Airport area Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine
Result
DPR-Russian victory[2]
Ukrainian forces withdraw to Pisky
Territorial changes
Successful DPR capture of the Donetsk airport
Belligerents
Ukraine
Donetsk People's Republic Per Ukraine: Russia (commanded by Brig. Gen B. Varner)
Commanders and leaders
Viktor Muzhenko[3] Yevhen Moisiuk[3] Oleh Kuzminykh (POW)[4][5] Valerii Rud[6] Ruslan Prusov[3] Dmytro Yarosh (WIA)
Mikhail Tolstykh (Givi)[7] Arsen Pavlov (Motorola)[8] Vladimir Zhoga (Voha) Alexander Khodakovsky
Units involved
Armed Forces of Ukraine
Airmobile Forces
79th Brigade[9]
95th Brigade[9]
Ground Forces
93rd Mechanized Brigade[10]
3rd Spetsnaz Regiment
Internal Affairs Ministry
Dnipro Battalion[11]
Right Sector
Ukrainian Volunteer Corps [9][12]
Novorossiya Armed Forces
Somalia Battalion
Sparta Battalion
Vostok Brigade
Per Ukraine:[13][14][15]
Spetsnaz GRU
Russian Naval Infantry
Casualties and losses
Per Ukraine:[16]
185 killed[17]
Hundreds wounded[3]
24 captured[18]
Per DPR:[19]
200 killed
500 wounded
27 tanks destroyed
20 armoured vehicles destroyed
Per DPR:
43 killed[19]
62 wounded[20]
Per Ukraine:[21]
800 killed
1,500–2,000 wounded
Heavy vehicles losses
v
t
e
Russo-Ukrainian War (outline)
Background
Novorossiya
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
Russia–Ukraine relations
Budapest Memorandum
2003 Tuzla Island conflict
Orange Revolution
2007 Munich speech of Vladimir Putin
Russia–Ukraine gas disputes
Euromaidan
Revolution of Dignity
Crimea
Annexation
Timeline
Little green men
Krymnash
Crimean Parliament
Belbek Airport
Southern Naval Base
2014 Simferopol
2014 Russian protests
Major topics
2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism
Information war
cyberwarfare
ransomware
cyberattacks
Belarusian involvement
International sanctions
Media portrayal
Foreign aid (military
humanitarian)
War in Donbas
Timeline
Capture of Donetsk
Sloviansk
Kramatorsk
Artemivsk
Mariupol
Sievierodonetsk
Il-76 shootdown
Zelenopillia rocket attack
Karlivka
1st Donetsk Airport
Luhansk Border Base
Krasnyi Lyman
Sector D clashes
Great Raid of 2014
Shakhtarsk Raion
Horlivka
Yasynuvata
Ilovaisk
Novoazovsk
2nd Mariupol
2nd Donetsk Airport
Debaltseve
International recognition
Post-Minsk II conflict
2015
Shyrokyne (2015)
Marinka (2015)
2016
Svitlodarsk (2016)
2017
Avdiivka (2017)
2018
Kerch Strait incident (2018)
2019
2020
2021
2022
Attacks on civilians
Sloviansk
Malaysia Airlines Flight 17
Novosvitlivka
Volnovakha
Donetsk
Mariupol
Kramatorsk
Stanytsia Luhanska
Russian invasion of Ukraine (2022–present) (Timeline)
Prelude to invasion (Reactions)
Assassination attempts on Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Northern Ukraine campaign
Hostomel
Kyiv
Chernihiv
Eastern Ukraine campaign
Avdiivka
Mariupol
Kharkiv
Izium
Battle of Donbas
Sievierodonetsk
Lysychansk
Bakhmut
Kharkiv counteroffensive
Vuhledar
Southern Ukraine campaign
1st Kherson
Melitopol
Mykolaiv
Voznesensk
Kherson counteroffensive
2nd Kherson
2023 Ukrainian counteroffensive
Effects and aftermath
Economic impact
Peace negotiations
Protests in occupied Ukraine
War crimes
Government and intergovernmental reactions
Non-government reactions
Protests
Russian protests
ICJ case
Arrest warrants
Related
Zagreb Tu-141 crash
Russian mystery fires
Nord Stream pipeline sabotage
Soloti training ground shooting
Brovary helicopter crash
Black Sea drone incident
Belgorod accidental bombing
Bryansk Oblast military aircraft crashes
Wagner Group rebellion
Wagner Group plane crash
The Second Battle of Donetsk Airport was an engagement between the Ukrainian military and Russian military and its proxy forces of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) during the War in Donbas.[22] An earlier battle in May 2014 had left Donetsk International Airport in Ukrainian control. Despite a ceasefire agreement, the Minsk Protocol, in place since 5 September 2014, fighting broke out between the warrying parties on 28 September 2014.
At the start of the battle, the airport lay between the separatist and Ukrainian lines of control, and was the last part of Donetsk city held by Ukrainian government forces. Heavy fighting over the airport continued into the new year, with some of the worst fighting taking place in January 2015. On 21 January, DPR forces overran the Ukrainian positions at the airport.[2] The remaining Ukrainian forces were either killed, forced to retreat, or captured.[23] The battle has been called the "Little Stalingrad".[24]
^Cite error: The named reference post was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ ab"Ukraine forces admit loss of Donetsk airport to rebels". The Guardian. 21 January 2015. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
^ abcdCite error: The named reference dd2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"КАК ПОПАЛ В ПЛЕН В АЭРОПОРТУ КОМБАТ 90-ГО БАТАЛЬОНА 95-Й БРИГАДЫ ОЛЕГ КУЗЬМИНЫХ". Retrieved 27 January 2014.
^В числе восьми освобожденных из плена "киборгов" нет комбата Олега Кузьминых: боевики отказались его отпустить [Battalion commander Oleg Kuzmin was not among the eight "cyborgs" released from captivity: the militants have refused to let him go]. fakty.ua (in Russian). 6 February 2015.
^"Ukraine fighters, surrounded at wrecked airport, refuse to give up". Los Angeles Times. 28 October 2014.
^"Rebel commander wages fight to the death for east Ukraine airport". Yahoo News. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
^"Ukraine Live Day 335: The Battle for Donetsk". The Interpreter. 18 January 2015. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
^ abc"'Cyborgs' pledge to defend ruined Donetsk airport". Kyiv Post. 10 October 2014. Retrieved 4 November 2014.
^"Военные отбили у боевиков стратегическую высоту вблизи Донецкого аэропорта". Newsru.
^"Dnipro Battalion Will Not Leave Donetsk Airport Without Order - Battalion Commander Bereza". Censor.NET. 14 September 2014. Retrieved 4 November 2014.
^Tom Balmforth (16 October 2014). "Insult Evolves into Homage As Donetsk Airport Defenders Dubbed 'Cyborgs'". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Retrieved 4 November 2014.
^"Ukraine crisis: New battle rages at Donetsk airport". BBC. 1 December 2014. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
^Shemetov, Maxim (1 December 2014). "Ukraine says Russian special forces involved in attacks on airport in east". Reuters. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
^"Militants with "Russian Naval Infantry" marks in Donetsk airport, 15.01.15". Retrieved 2 February 2015.
^"Memorial Service Held In Kyiv In Honor Of Donetsk Airport Defenders". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty.
^23 killed (28 September – 14 October),[1] 12 killed (15–28 October),[2] 125 killed (29 October – 21 January), 25 killed (22–29 January),[3] total of 185 reported killed
^"At least 1,373 soldiers killed in Russia's war against Ukraine". KyivPost. 22 January 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
^ abCite error: The named reference conduct was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"Clashes outside Ukraine parliament". The Belfast Telegraph. 14 October 2014. Retrieved 4 November 2014.
^Aleksandr Fedchenko (29 January 2015). "Украинский Сталинград: 242 дня обороны донецкого аэропорта" [Ukrainian Stalingrad: 242 days of defending Donetsk airport] (in Russian). KP (in Ukraine). Retrieved 2 February 2015.
^"Cyborgs at Little Stalingrad: A Brief History of the Battles of the Donetsk Airport, 26 May 2014 to 21 January 2015". AUSA. 30 April 2019. Retrieved 12 April 2024.
^Cite error: The named reference KP22JAN was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Fox, Amos C. (2019). ""Cyborgs at Little Stalingrad": A Brief History of the Battles of the Donetsk Airport, 26 May 2014 to 21 January 2015". Land Warfare Paper. Institute of Land Warfare – via AUSA.
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