In mid-January 2015, the Ukrainian Armed Forces, violating the ceasefire, launched an attack on the positions of the DPR army in the old terminal of the Donetsk airport. Commanders Arsen Pavlov (Motorola) and Mikhail Tolstykh (Givi) led their men into a counteroffensive and, as a result, finally drove the enemy out of the air harbor. Life special correspondent Semyon Pegov recalls what the last hours of the battle for the symbol of the Donbas war were like.

Thirty seconds after the first explosion, as soon as the reinforced concrete dust began to settle, the groans and screams of cyborgs echoed over the destroyed ruins of the new terminal - this is what Kiev called those who fought against the DPR at the Donetsk airport.

It was January 21, 2015, it was the ninth day of the decisive battle for the airport, and now its outcome was a foregone conclusion.

The sappers laid about one and a half tons of granular TNT (this is used in coal mines) in the ceiling above the room where the last group of Ukrainian soldiers remained.

Not all bookmarks were detonated, however, the explosion still turned out to be powerful, but the ceilings did not collapse completely. Judging by the screams that filled the airwaves, the cyborgs were doing badly.

The militia again offered the enemy to surrender, but the combined detachment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (there were paratroopers, and military personnel from the airmobile brigade, and national guardsmen, and, of course, the right-wing men) continued to believe the messages from their headquarters, which assured that there was no blockade of the air harbor and that the command had everything under control.

Suddenly, over the screams and rattling of metal (the ceilings, continuing to disperse even after the explosion, howled in their own way), a woman's voice drawn out the words of a Ukrainian song:

"I wonder at the sky that I guess,

What I have not soki, what I have not lit ... ".

It was a volunteer sniper, apparently from the "Right Sector" * (this was not particularly practiced in the regular army).

A few days ago, the guys from the scraps of radio interception concluded that there is a girl among the cyborgs. Then we managed to establish that she was not a nurse, but a sniper. However, they could not get any more information. Her callsign was not known, nobody saw the mysterious "biathlete".

That is why her drawn-out singing was perceived as a conversation with a ghost. The guys' ears were still ringing (the blast wave had reached them), but even through this ringing it ripped through, a lump rolled up to the throat - the sniper sang shrilly and desperately.

The militias already knew for sure that no one would come to the aid of the cyborgs. On the eve of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, three BMPs were allegedly sent for reinforcement to the new terminal (the number of personnel was up to a platoon) - the armored vehicles were immediately knocked out, and everyone who survived was taken prisoner.

The commander of the group claimed that the headquarters had promised him that the road to the terminal was open. The leadership of the Armed Forces of Ukraine either did not really have control of the real situation, or acted at random, deceiving their own fighters.

Cyborgs, like captured Ukrainian soldiers, were confident that the situation was not critical. At the same time, they themselves missed the moment - three days before the militias blew up the floors. There were all chances for revenge.

On January 18, Kiev sent at least a dozen tanks to help the cyborgs, followed by other armored vehicles (BMP, MTLB, armored personnel carriers), which no one counted.

The tanks came to the edge of the takeoff and grind the bare skeleton of the new terminal, which was taken under control by the soldiers of Motorola, the commander of the Sparta battalion, together with the Somali battalion, which was led by Givi.

It was a meat grinder.

The caked blood stood out especially clearly on the faces of the Spartans due to the thick layer of concrete powder. Tank shells of the Armed Forces of Ukraine exploded on the upper floors of the new terminal with an uterine crash. Stone dust was stuffed into the eyes, mouth, ears.

The wounded continued to be brought to the basement of the new terminal. Absolutely everyone was shell-shocked.

To shout to the fighters, the commanders overcame a double barrier - the outrageous barking of explosions and the three-day deafening of the auditory paths of the personnel.

The sailor - the commanders of the "Sparta" division, whose guys were the first to enter the terminal and now held the lower and upper floors of the building, decided that this battle could be the last for him.

The forces were incomparable.

In the new terminal there were about thirty Spartans, no more. There are about the same number of notorious cyborgs. They settled on the second floor.

Once surrounded, the cyborgs were in no hurry to surrender - from the mainland they received rosy predictions: the militia did not have enough strength, the counterattack was drowning, reinforcements were about to come, they had to hold on.

The sailor knew about this, because the enemy was so close that in the moments of calm, the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the motorists could shout out.

The sailor is a sturdy fifty-year-old man with a wheeled chest, with a gray beard and the good-natured smile of a forester. He is local, Donbass, he was engaged in business before the war. Things were going well, the children were settled, I flew with my wife several times a year to rest on the European coast, I was going to buy real estate in Montenegro ...

It would seem, who else but him to fight for European integration. However, love for his homeland plus service in the navy taught him a pathological thirst for justice and developed unbending officer's stubbornness in him.

The sailor dropped everything, joined the militia and was now preparing a suicide bomber on the ground floor of the terminal.

In case the cyborgs go on the attack to throw the Spartans back, he was going to cover the retreat of his guys to the end.

The sailor did not dramatize, he was never an alarmist, but the last message from the battalion commander of "Sparta" Motorola sounded like this: "Take up a perimeter defense! The enemy broke through to the church!"

The temple was on the left flank when facing the airstrip, and in the rear of the new terminal. That is, in fact, it turned out that the Sailor and his fighters were cut off from the main forces of the DPR.

The situation was obtained from the category of a dream in a dream.

Ukrainian cyborgs on the second floor of the airport were blocked by Spartans, who, in turn, were taken into the operational environment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Sailor said goodbye to his brother - call sign Vodyanoy - on the fourth floor of the terminal, which was shot from all sides. From there Vodyanoy monitored the movements of the enemy.

The brothers walked side by side throughout the war, Vodyanoy even managed to be in Ukrainian captivity, but Motorola rather quickly exchanged him for some captured Ukrainian soldier and returned to the ranks.

Embracing his brother, as for the last time, the Sailor said: "I will not go anywhere from the terminal, if we cannot resist, you are taking the fighters out." However, there was no need to retreat.

At that moment, when the Spartans were surrounded from all sides - with artillery, tanks, infantry - the cyborgs had to decide on the final dash - to attack the Sailor's people. If they did it then, the fate of the new terminal could have turned out differently.

But they did not dare.

As a result, the Spartans held out, and the Somalis (as the Givi fighters were called) together with the guys from Pyatnashka (commander of Abkhaz) recaptured the church from the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

They negotiated with the cyborgs for the next three days, offered a corridor, offered to go to their own. But the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine continued to convince them that this option was unacceptable, that most of the Donetsk airport was still controlled by Kiev.

After the second explosion, the ceilings collapsed completely on the location of the cyborgs. Twelve people survived. The sniper was not among them.

* The organization is banned on the territory of the Russian Federation by the decision of the Supreme Court.

The point in the history of the battles for the Donetsk airport was set by the operation carried out by the DPR forces in January 20, 2015. Then, the already strengthened militia army was able to inflict a rather tangible blow on the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which were located around the cities of Novorossiya, the main blow was inflicted by the fighters of the battalions "Sparta" and "Somalia".

The shelling of the control tower with Somali tanks after many months gave the result - it collapsed, which deprived the Ukrainian military of the support of snipers and artillery spotters. The DPR tanks that made their way into the airport destroyed the fortifications of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and the Sparta strike group began to clean up the new terminal. Having driven the "cyborgs" into a trap, the militia occupied the upper floors and basement of the new terminal. The forces of the Ukrainians were locked up on the first floor, but they refused to surrender and they responded with fire to all proposals of the world.

Then the militias decided to act differently: in the basement under the place of defense, they planted explosives and blew them up. Two explosions, on January 19th and 20th, put an end to the assault on the DAP. Most of the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine died under the rubble, and on the afternoon of January 21, the surviving Ukrainian soldiers were forced to surrender to the militia.

As a result of many months of siege, Donetsk airport turned into ruins, stuffed with explosives - mines and "stretch marks". The shelling of the territory did not stop for a long time.

* Organization banned on the territory of the Russian Federation.

For a month now, the hottest battles have been taking place at the Donetsk airport. Mass heroism is shown by both sides - some protect, others build a road from corpses. The heroes are surrounded by a dense curtain built of lies, myths and populism.

In memory of the fallen defenders, we decided to shed at least a little truth on the events and debunk the myths created in Moscow and Kiev.

Donetsk airport named after S.S.Prokofiev

The airfield in the city of Stalino was built on blood. The first bulldozers began leveling the runway in 1933 - the hungry year in Ukraine's history. Even Russian historians who argue about Stalin's guilt do not deny the very fact of the famine. The first passenger planes flew from Donetsk to Starobelsk, a city in the Luhansk region, located 160 km from the airport.

In July 2011, a new runway was built for Euro 2012, and in May 2012 a new terminal was built, which could handle 3100 passengers in one hour. The Croats designed and, as time has shown, they did their job well. No wonder Kolesnikov (Minister of Transport) spent nearly 7 billion hryvnias of state money, that is, 875 million dollars. There is a terminal that can withstand hailstones. They stole a lot too, but who will remember.

But even after the football championship, the construction did not end. Donetsk oligarchs, like real feudal lords, cannot use a common terminal. Simple Donetsk people for them are divided into two categories - servants and smerds. Therefore, they started to build a VIP terminal. For taxpayers' money, that is, us.

Sergei Prokofiev, after whom the airport is named, is a famous composer of the last century, who was born on the territory of the Donetsk region. Stalin's favorite, his operas War and Peace and The Fiery Angel are the best fit for modern events.

Aerodrome

It can receive aircraft of any class. In 2013, passed through 1,100,500 passengers. In addition to the charters of Akhmetov and the company, a little more than a dozen airlines fly. The main directions are Kiev and Moscow. Almost everything else is Turkish resorts. There is only one flight to Europe and beyond, to Munich. For the middle class of Donetsk feudal lords who have not yet bought a private jet, there are also flights to Greece and the Emirates. The rest is like that, little things - Kutaisi, Surgut, Ashgabat, Israel. It also accepts cargo.

The first assault on Donetsk airport

After the capture of Slavyansk, a detachment of the 3rd Special Forces Regiment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine arrived at the airport. The commandos were accommodated in the old terminal, the airport continued to receive and send flights. In May, a detachment of Khodakovsky arrived in Donetsk, called the "Vostok battalion". It included many people from the Caucasus - Chechnya, Dagestan and other places.

This is how it began ...

On May 26, Khodakovsky, who, according to some sources, had previously served in Alpha, held talks with the commander of our special forces. The conversation went something like this:

- Come on, we'll take a new terminal. So that without shooting and unnecessary victims. You stay in the old terminal, you can report to your superiors that you did not give up positions. Who needs bloodshed? We will enter the working, new terminal, journalists from Russia will come and take pictures. The airport will continue to operate.

- Well, try it. We took the oath and are not going to become traitors like some.

After this conversation, several KAMAZ trucks with the militants moved towards the airport. They entered the new terminal, which was occupied by passengers and airfield personnel. The special forces did not interfere with them so that there were no casualties among the civilian population. The soldiers first opened warning fire, which dispersed the civilians. The militants at this time took up defensive positions and prepared to repel the attack. Then the battle began.

... and that's how it ended.

The militants managed to climb onto the roof and install portable air defense systems there. Our forces used aviation, at least two Mi-24 helicopters and one Su-25 attack aircraft. Under the cover of smoke bombs, Khodakovsky's militants undertook a maneuver, which was later used by Strelkov in Slavyansk. The codename is "Set the runner".

Almost all units of the regular army of the Russian Federation, which were introduced to the territory of Ukraine, passed through this meat grinder. Not every soldier went on the attack, but there were representatives from every unit. The artillerymen, of course, did not go into the attack, they only supported them with fire.

The same can be said about the militant squads. Even Cossack women from the LPR were brought to Donetsk for this business. Therefore, it makes no sense to describe each unit - name any, you won't be mistaken, you took part. Why was this done? The answer is at the end of the article.

Russian television has promoted the field "commanders" Givi and Motorola, but their role is greatly exaggerated. They are television stars who will receive all the laurels in case of victory, but not key figures or even commanders of any significant divisions. Next to them are military advisers from the Russian Federation, who make all decisions.

It is worth noting that creating myths around is beneficial to all parties to the conflict. Lies come from all sides - from Putin and from Poroshenko. But none of them concerns those heroes who stand there to death.

Myth number 1 Donetsk airport named after Prokofiev

Somewhere in the middle of September there is such a thing as Donetsk airport. Prokofiev, it simply ceased to exist. It cannot receive passengers - the terminals, along with the entire infrastructure, are almost destroyed. It cannot receive airplanes - navigation and radar equipment is practically destroyed, as are oil depots, repair and other facilities necessary for aviation.

Some of the aviation equipment is located far beyond the airfield, and no one knows what is with it now. The condition of the runway is a big question. Restoring even a minimal airfield operability can take many months. The problem is that it is not safe to repair dilapidated objects. Better to demolish and rebuild everything. It will be even cheaper this way.

Therefore, it would be more logical to use the phrase “the territory of the former airport. Prokofiev ".

Myth # 2 Donetsk airport is taken

If someone tells you that he took the airport, feel free to send him to Putin. The area of ​​the airport is more than 400 hectares, 99% of which is completely open area. All this land is visible not only with the help of drones, but also with simple, stationary instruments. Artillery from both sides has already very well targeted this area, so it is simply impossible to control it. Neither Ukraine nor the DPR. Everything that appears there immediately falls under dense and accurate artillery fire.

This is Luhansk airport

There are many underground communications under the airport, ranging from a tunnel connecting anti-aircraft units to a bomb shelter and terminal basements. Dozens of buildings, large and small, allow you to hide from shelling.

We can only talk about the control of specific buildings. The main stronghold of our forces is the new terminal. The artillery at the disposal of the militants can completely destroy all buildings on the territory of the airport, as was done in Lugansk. The Ukrainian can do the same. But the parties are trying, if possible, to preserve at least something that could be, albeit conditionally, called a seized / protected airport.

But even if the militants seize all the buildings, it will be impossible to talk about complete control. Spetsnaz can appear at any moment, right out of the ground. So, even if the terrorists knock ours out of the buildings, it will be a little scary for them to spend the night in these huge empty, gigantic buildings.

Leaving a garrison of several hundred people overnight (and less will not work - too large areas need to be kept under control), the commanders of the militants will not dare. Ukrainian soldiers won't even need to knock them out. The lovers of the Russian world woke up in the morning, and a dozen or two of their comrades were missing. And they found even fewer bodies. And so every night. Do you think all these Givis and Motorolls decide on such a Pyrrhic victory?

To take the Donetsk airport, you need to occupy all settlements located within a radius of 10 km from it.

Myth No. 3 The situation at the Donetsk airport

If we talk about the situation at the Donetsk airport, then you need to name the exact time and list all the objects in question. For example: "As of 04:21 PM 10/07/2014, the Ukrainian military controls objects A, B, C and two floors of object D. The militants control the ground units of objects D and E, in objects G, Z, I there are battles." Everything can change dramatically in five minutes.

The main myth. The strategic importance of Donetsk airport

Both sides of the conflict call the airport a "strategic" object. But this is not the case. Famous volunteer Roman Donik said the best about the airport in his

On the night of January 13-14, the last, successful for the VSN assault on the Donetsk airport began. Perhaps this was the most symbolic battle that took place during the war in Donbas. The successful defense of this object of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the previous period made it a kind of ideological symbol of the Ukrainian army, for its defenders, the so-called "cyborgs", representatives of the Ukrainian segment of the Internet prayed like an icon. The fall of the airport, which seemed to be an unshakable stronghold, on the contrary, undermined the morale of the Ukrainian society, in addition, it is worth noting that during these battles the most combat-ready formations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were defeated.

By the beginning of 2015, the militia managed to quite tightly overlay the formation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine defending the new terminal of the Donetsk airport, however, it was impossible to speak of a complete blockade, since the columns of Ukrainian armored vehicles periodically broke through to the facility, bringing up weapons and ammunition, as well as carrying out the rotation of personnel. The breakthroughs cost the Armed Forces large losses, which led to the fact that the command, in exchange for a temporary cessation of the shelling of Donetsk, agreed with the militia to carry out the rotation of personnel in December 2014. The new terminal and the airport control tower towered over the terrain, which allowed the Armed Forces of Ukraine to effectively adjust the artillery fire on the ground. It is worth noting that the previous assaults of the airport, in the fall-winter of 2014, were repulsed primarily thanks to the artillery support that the "cyborgs" received from Peski and Avdeevka, which were actually base plates in the defense of the facility. However, during the autumn battles, the militia managed to get as close to the enemy as possible, which significantly hampered the artillery support from the Ukrainian Armed Forces. It is worth noting that the airport was defended by the most trained and motivated units of the Ukrainian army from the 80th airmobile, 93rd mechanized brigades. The general leadership in the sector was carried out by the commander of the 93rd mechanized brigade, Oleg Mikats, the 90th unit played a key role in the defense of the new terminal itself. airmobile battalion of the 81st airborne assault brigade. In general, in the sector, the Ukrainian side had a numerical superiority over the VSN.

The proximity of the airport to the city limits of Donetsk created favorable conditions for artillery strikes on residential areas of the city, which made the seizure of the facility a priority task for the armed forces. In addition, the capture of the airport was necessary for moral reasons; repeated unsuccessful assault attempts and constant shelling did not contribute to raising the spirits of the DPR population. For the storming of the airport, the most trained units of the republic - the battalions "Sparta" under the command of A. Pavlov (Motorola), Somalia under the command of M. Tolstykh (Givi), the "Vostok" division, as well as the formation of Russian volunteers from the Chechen Republic were involved. Before the start of the assault, it was possible to form a powerful artillery fist to support him. By means of electronic intelligence, control was established over the radio communications of the Ukrainian side. Also, EW units were prepared for the operation, which during the assault managed to suppress the connection of the cyborgs defending the terminal with the command. The soldiers of the assault groups carefully worked out their interactions during the assault in advance.

The assault began on the evening of January 13, the first thing the attackers brought down the control tower with tank shots, depriving the Ukrainians of the observation post. At the same time, the VSN artillery began counter-battery combat against previously reconnoitered targets. The most unexpected thing for the Ukrainian side was the use of the UR-77 demining unit during the assault on the terminal, the so-called "Serpent Gorynych." nuclear strike on the Luhansk airport proved to be infectious. This installation was used to destroy fortified enemy
positions even during the storming of Grozny in the First Chechen War. Engineering ammunition with the equivalent of over 2 tons of TNT led to a partial collapse of the building of the new terminal, while VSN tanks fired at the firing points. Under cover of fire, assault groups broke into the terminal and began to clean it up. In close combat, grenades, overhead explosive charges, and the Cheryomukha tear gas were actively used. The first floor was captured relatively quickly, further, after the loss of the effect of surprise, the advance went slowly but surely. In fact, already on the first day of the assault, the "cyborgs" were driven into a mousetrap and their defeat was only a matter of time. With the help of electronic warfare, communication between the Ukrainian units was paralyzed.

The outcome of the battles for the terminal was essentially decided not inside the building, but on the adjacent territory; the Ukrainian side immediately threw units supported by armored vehicles into battle. However, this time the artillery of the VSN outplayed their Ukrainian counterparts in all respects, and most of the attacks were drowned out even before direct contact with the enemy.

On January 14, Denis Pushilin announced full control over the airport, but these statements were premature. Fighting inside the terminal continued, the Armed Forces of Ukraine constantly threw new units into battle from the side of Peskov and Avdeevka. Attempts to release the blockade were unsuccessful. Losses in armored vehicles in the summer of 2014 forced the Ukrainian command to send personnel into the attack with the support of MT-LB-lightly armored tractors, which were not intended for warfare at all. Ukrainian soldiers and equipment found themselves in open space where they were shot from all types of weapons, including MLRS. Unable to break into the new terminal, the Ukrainian command took out its anger on the residents of Donetsk. It was during these days that the city was subjected to the most intense artillery shelling, which led to numerous casualties and destruction in the Kuibyshevsky district of the city. Even the Uragan MLRS was used during the shelling. Subsequently, these attacks will play a very cruel joke with the captured "cyborgs".

On January 17, the "Right Sector" detachments entered the battle, specially arriving in Peski to unblock the airport. The command of the SS announced that they managed to go 2 kilometers deeper into Donetsk, but this remained boastful chatter. In total, up to a battalion of infantry with the support of 15 tanks participated in the attack. In general, the well-publicized attack on the new terminal was unsuccessful - it was generally naive to expect that the forces of 15 tanks and an infantry battalion could take an object that had been cleaned out in recent days at least comparable forces.

On January 18, due to high losses, the Ukrainian command changed tactics, this time the strike group attacked from the direction of the village of Spartak and managed to achieve certain successes, in particular, they managed to catch three VSN tanks, which were without ammunition and destroy them. However, in general, the VSN command reacted rather quickly to a sudden counterattack, a counter battle ensued in the Putilovsky bridge area, during which 1 Ukrainian tank was destroyed, 2 more were confirmed and captured. Several Ukrainian tankers were captured. Nevertheless, under the cover of tanks, the convoy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine managed to break through to the terminal, transfer reinforcements and take out some of the wounded "cyborgs." Despite the doom of their resistance, the Ukrainian Armed Forces continued to resist in the new terminal.

By January 20, significant losses forced the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to form consolidated units from various units and even types of troops. In particular, servicemen of the 160th anti-aircraft missile brigade, as well as units from the 25th transport aviation brigade, were thrown into battle as infantry. As a "fire brigade", units of the 25th Airborne Brigade were also sent to the breakthrough, which again suffered significant losses. The shooting of the column of the 90th airmobile battalion "Zhitomir" became a symbol of the helplessness of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. On the eve of the operation, the commander
battalion was appointed Lieutenant Colonel Oleg Kuzminykh, from the very beginning of the ATO took part in hostilities. Having received the task to break through the blockade, the lieutenant colonel personally led the unit, which, in 3 (!) Armored vehicles, advanced to the new terminal. It is worth noting that one of the three vehicles belonged not to the 90th battalion, but to the 57th mechanized infantry brigade. The lack of armored vehicles in the Armed Forces of Ukraine forced the command to withdraw equipment from some units in favor of others. In the fog, the convoy lost its orientation and went straight to the position of the "Somalia" battalion, where it was shot, one armored personnel carrier was damaged, but managed to escape, 2 armored vehicles were destroyed. A total of 9 people were killed, 8 more, including the battalion commander, were captured. It was Lieutenant Colonel Kuzminykh and his subordinates that Givi fed with chevrons of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the presence of television cameras. In fact, this was the last attempt to break through to the still defending "cyborgs".

On January 21, the third floor of the terminal was destroyed by overhead charges, which were installed by sappers who were part of the assault groups. In fact, the resistance of the "cyborgs" ceased. One and a half dozen fighters were taken prisoner. Sands-Experimental-part of the air defense-Avdeevka, where, in fact, there was a struggle for positions from which earlier attempts were made to break through to the terminals. The data leaking into the Svidomo press on losses generally confirmed the DPR's data that in recent days, in the battles for the airport and adjacent villages, the enemy has lost several hundred people killed, wounded and captured, and hospitals in southeastern Ukraine are now crammed with wounded soldiers. In fact, the airport was taken on January 21, 2015, but the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine denied the obvious fact for another week, despite not even reporting from the film crew of Yevgeny Poddubny from the new terminal.

Nevertheless, fighting in the vicinity of the airport continued. The Armed Forces continued to control part of the air defense, Peski and part of Avdeevka, where the units of the Armed Forces got stuck in street battles. The command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in a rage, threw more and more reserves into battle, trying to return the object, which became a symbol of the military valor of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. However, the attacks did not bring results, the Ukrainian units, finding themselves in open space, fell under heavy artillery fire, while suffering heavy losses in personnel and equipment. So only on January 22, the 25th OVDBr, according to official figures, lost 12 people killed. Large losses in personnel undermined the spirit of the Ukrainian troops, it got to the point that even the elite formations refused to go on the attack. The command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in their usual manner, decided to recoup the civilian population, inflicting massive artillery strikes on residential areas. These days, the number of civilians killed in Donetsk, Horlivka and Dokuchaevsk exceeded 100 people. In fact, in front of the eyes of the world community, a war crime of enormous gravity was committed, but the leaders of Western countries turned a blind eye to this, preferring these days to participate in the "I am Charlie" action.

On January 25, the formation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine retreated from the radar building, which in fact ended the fighting for the airport. The command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, until January 29, brazenly asserted that the airport had been held, while denying massive losses. The DPR units did not manage to capture Peski and Avdeevka, in which intensive hostilities continued until the end of February, and continue to this day with less intensity. The location of the artillery batteries of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Peski and Avdeevka still remains the threat of shelling in residential areas of Donetsk.

The data of the Ukrainian side about the losses incurred in the battles for the airport look frankly ridiculous. According to official data, the Armed Forces of Ukraine lost about 50 servicemen killed and taken prisoner during the fighting. In fact, there were more than 30 prisoners alone. The list of the dead contains the names of 130 servicemen, but these are also clearly underestimated figures. Among the wounded from the side of the Armed Forces was even the head of the "Right Sector" D. Yarosh, who received a shrapnel wound while trying to unblock the airport. Unlike the previous unsuccessful assaults, the sides actually changed places, if earlier the militias attacking the airport found themselves under heavy artillery fire in the open space, now, after the seizure of the terminal, the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were in their position. During the battles for the airport, the Armed Forces of Ukraine lost at least 6 tanks, 13 infantry fighting vehicles, 7 armored personnel carriers, 5 BMD 9 MT-LB, ACS 2S9 "Nona", 2 BRDM and 2 units of engineering armored vehicles. Another 4 tanks, 2 armored personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles, BMD and MT-LB went to VSN as trophies. Thanks to a more competent organization of hostilities, the losses of the VSN were several times lower. By the end of the day on January 20, the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine could save the lives of four dozen of their soldiers, locked in the terminal, by giving the order to withdraw. From time to time, separate armored vehicles managed to break through to the terminal, which indicates the possibility of a hidden withdrawal of personnel at night. However, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine chose to sacrifice the lives of their fighters in exchange for the myth of the impregnable fortress-DAP.

The victory of the DPR units at the airport was the result of a qualitative growth in the organization of the republic's armed forces. During the assault on the DAP, yesterday's militias turned into well-organized mobile assault groups, reinforced by sappers. In the course of the battles, overhead charges were competently used, with the help of which breaches were made and the premises where the "cyborgs" were hiding were destroyed. Thermal imagers were used in large quantities. During the fighting, the interaction between assault groups and artillery, as well as tanks, which were effectively used to suppress enemy firing points, was well organized. Separately, it should be said about the work of the artillerymen. "God of War" is one of the key factors in the war in the Donbass. The artillerymen of the VSN were able to outplay opponents from the Armed Forces of Ukraine in all respects, competently waged counter-battery combat and provided fire support for assault groups. It was the barrage of artillery fire that thwarted most of the attacks The Ukrainian Armed Forces, largely deciding the outcome of the confrontation, thereby leveling the enemy's numerical superiority in the sector. In fact, the "Vostok", "Sparta" and "Somalia" that stormed the airport were no longer irregular militias, but rather elite assault units of the regular troops. It must be admitted that such a qualitative growth did not affect all the formations of the Armed Forces; the most prepared units of the republic took part in the storming of the airport. The regular army was still far away, and the subsequent operation near Debaltseve revealed many problems in the military development of the republics. Nevertheless, the battles for the airport ended in complete victory for the DPR units. The object, which had been a bone in the throat of the republic for many months, was occupied, in addition, during the battles the most combat-ready units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were bled, the death of "cyborgs seriously demoralized the Ukrainian society. The capture of the airport was perhaps the largest moral victory of the VSN over the enemy. It was a kind of revenge for defeat during the first unsuccessful assault on May 26, 2014, when dozens of soldiers were killed, including 35 volunteers from Russia. The myth of the invincible "cyborgs" has been dispelled.

SOLDIER'S TRUTH. "TERMINAL"

I don’t remember why, I didn’t include some episodes of that day in the general video about the clearing of the new terminal of Donetsk airport on January 15, 2015. After all, some of them were quite significant for me. And not only for me. For example, when we drove into the lower floor of the old terminal in a BAT, we, those who were sitting on the armor, namely the operator from some channel, Motorola and me, were almost smeared on this very armor by the interfloor overlap. Probably, the events that followed this, somehow ousted this episode from my memory.

Probably, I will introduce some of the heroes of this issue of "Soldier's Truth"
"Motorola"

"Voha"

"Sailor"

"Prapor"
This AKa, Prapor still took it and even crept up to aim somewhere. But, a fighter came up and said:
- Uncle, this is my machine gun. Give it back, please ...
I had to return)

I was very surprised to meet Mikhail Galustyan, who turned out to be a fighter of Sparta with the call sign "Gnome"

But what was the call sign of this citizen, I still don’t know

Voha, I think he probably knows him)

We drove back with Gram Phillips

That day I just put on a slight fright and a scratched finger

But the sniper who was with us was less fortunate

Well, and of course the mortar crew, which by their actions cause shock and awe not only among their potential opponents)

Well, and the film itself:

Here is more about what happened in the frame of that day.

The battle for Donetsk airport was the bloodiest battle of this insane and criminal Russian-Ukrainian war. In terms of the number of deaths, it far surpassed the battle at Ilovaisk, at Saur-Mogila and the border battles of June-July.

It is noteworthy that on the Ukrainian side, Donetsk airport was heroically and selflessly defended at different times by the natives of Kirovograd (almost all of them were baptized in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate), then Nikolaev (and these are not only almost all parishioners of the UOC-MP, but also speak in the majority in Russian). Although, let's make a reservation, canonical discussions about Orthodoxy in Ukraine or even theological discussion of Orthodox and Uniates have nothing to do with this deadly bloodshed. The airport showed us that Orthodox brothers are fighting to the death with other Orthodox brothers. We were told for a long time that the militia was allegedly going on a victorious liberation march across Ukraine. But it turned out that the victory of some Orthodox brothers over others can only be very bloody and fierce. There will be no lower price in such fratricide. It's not even a Pyrrhic victory. This is more trouble than victory.

The first battle for the airport took place on May 26, when Ukrainian troops defended it. From then until mid-September, the airport was subject to periodic shelling and attacks. Since mid-September, attacks and attempts to storm the airport have become almost daily, and since October 1, they have become especially fierce. On some days, there were several attacks with rather large losses. It has been repeatedly reported that during the assaults the militias lost more than 500 people killed and stopped almost all offensive actions in other sectors of the front, concentrating only on this unattainable goal for many months.

What is this coveted military goal for the self-proclaimed militia? Once a beautiful, modern terminal worth $ 875 million, handling 1 million passengers a year, it was soundly built by a Croatian construction company. The airport building itself is almost a square with a side of only some 150 meters of glass and concrete, to which a 200-meter-long gallery and five gates with a length of about 70 meters are attached from the side of the airfield, also made of a reinforced concrete frame, steel and glass. Thus, the entire defense was kept "on a patch" of 150 by 200 meters (4 football fields), but under several layers of concrete floors. The old airport terminal is even smaller. This building is 150 meters long and 20 meters wide with a small adjoining hall 50 by 50 meters. The old terminal is only 70 meters away from the new one. In addition to them, in the distance there is a reinforced concrete airport tower, on which the Ukrainian flag fluttered for many months. That's all that news reports usually call the loud phrase "airport complex". In terms of size, the new terminal turned out to be comparable to the epic Troy, because it is precisely such dimensions that it has in the excavations. Only the Battle of Troy was fleeting, only about 1-2 weeks. Our battle turned out to be much longer. And instead of a fortress, there were simple buildings. And these buildings turned out to be impregnable. In addition to the new and old terminals, nearby there is the Polet hotel, the Metro supermarket, hangars and already empty fuel tanks riddled and crumpled by explosions for a long time. Behind the airport terminals there is a huge airfield with two runways (concrete track is more than 4 km long). These runways could accommodate any aircraft on planet Earth, including the supergiant Mriya and even the American space shuttle in case of an emergency landing. The airport was lovely. West of the airport is the village of Peski, occupied by the Ukrainian army. This village became a secondary site of the battle for the Donetsk air harbor.

However, back to terminals. Based on the very modest size of the two buildings, we can conclude that they were hardly defended by more than 2 companies. A larger number would be difficult to effectively deploy for defense. Approximately 200 soldiers. Fewer than there were Spartans. Only the Spartans fought to the death against the huge army of interventionists, and here brother went against brother. It was this size of the garrison of 200 people that determined the success of the most effective defensive operation of the Ukrainian army. This is the number of soldiers of the Ukrainian army with Orthodox crosses around their necks that bled the militias with exactly the same Orthodox crosses around their necks.

The airport came under fire with increasing ferocity. In the summer, these were only periodic attacks from "hail" and 120-mm mortars. In mid-September, the fire increased significantly. In the messages of Donetsk social networks, the phrases "artillery shelling with shots almost every second", "fire from all sides at the airport", "strong cannonade from several areas towards the airport" flashed. In the immediate aftermath of the November 2 elections, Donetsk's social media reported firing at the airport from guns all day at an average intensity of two rounds per minute, which means 120 rounds per hour. Mortars usually fired at close range, hiding behind residential buildings, artillery pieces were set up in the city squares, and "hailstones" and "hurricanes" fired across the city from the southwest, south and east. According to social media posts, each heavy attack should have consisted of at least several hundred rounds. And this is not so much, considering that one salvo of "hail" is 40 rockets with a caliber of 122 mm. And there were at least several dozen such heavy attacks. In January, the shelling intensified. Then tanks began to shoot at the terminal with direct fire. If we rely on assessments in Donetsk's social networks in terms of the intensity of the shelling and if we assume that most of the shelling was directed at the airport area, then we can estimate as a first approximation that at least 5 thousand shells.

It is important to understand that with such a large number of shells fired into the airport area, and often even "over the head" of Donetsk from its southern or eastern regions, some small proportion of them gave inevitable undershoots and fell in residential areas. These mistakes are, to a large extent, the answer to those very inexplicable strikes on the residential areas of Donetsk, in which the parties accused and continue to accuse each other. But as a rule, this is not the result of malicious intent, but more often either the shortage of militia shells, or the erroneous retaliatory strikes of the Ukrainian artillery on the positions of the DPR artillery. It is only 700 meters from the building of the new airport terminal to Stratonavtov Street on the outskirts of Donetsk (this street had the most destruction). At the same time, the deployment of positions of multiple launch rocket systems and artillery for shelling the airport assumed a significantly greater range, because firing from short ranges is impossible. This made it inevitable for the DPR militias to fire through the city from long distances. And it would be strange to expect that of the many hundreds of rockets and artillery shells, some small part would not fall short of a peaceful city. And from the return shells of the Ukrainian army, some part inevitably fell on residential areas.

The airport building itself, after prolonged shelling by the beginning of January, was badly damaged, some ceilings and columns collapsed, but the fortress was still standing. Many shells fell around the terminal, behind it, on the recently published video evidence, you can see at least a dozen pieces of equipment and vehicles, all broken by artillery fire. In front of the airport building, you can also see numerous craters on the asphalt. A lot of shells were also fired at the Peski village behind the rear edge of the airport. The settlement, 1 km long by 2 km, is almost destroyed.

An estimate in a first approximation of the number of 5 thousand shells that fell on the airport and the surrounding area during the entire period of the fighting inevitably evokes an association with the Brest Fortress. At the same time, it turns out that in terms of the number of shells fired, the assault by the German troops of the Brest Fortress turns out to be comparable to the current battles of the two fraternal peoples around the Donetsk airport. The report of the 45th Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht on the assault on the fortress (published by the historian M. Solonin in the translation of Vasily Risto) names relatively clearly the time intervals when artillery preparation was carried out on the Brest Fortress, as well as the amount of artillery involved. For example, it is known that 2880 rocket artillery shells from six-barreled mortars, 31 shells of super-heavy mortars of the "Karl" type were fired at the fortress, and in addition, 9 light, 3 heavy batteries and 210-mm mortars in the amount of 9 units were fired at the citadel, and periodically two more division of the same mortars. The fire itself was conducted on June 22 only 15 minutes from 4 am, but on June 23 there were several powerful fire strikes on the fortress all day long, and on June 24 only until noon. After that, the organized resistance of the fortress ceased, and the resistance persisted only in isolated centers. During these 2 and a half days, about 6 thousand shells were fired at the fortress (the report does not give an exact final figure, but an approximate estimate leads to such figures). Thus, in terms of the number of shells, the Brest Fortress and the Donetsk airport are comparable. However, the citadel of Brest, on which the main fire was fired on June 22-24, 1941, stretches 700 meters in length and 300 meters in width. That is, the area under attack in Brest turned out to be 5 times larger than at the Donetsk airport, although, on the other hand, in Brest it happened in three days, and in the air gates of Donetsk - for many months.

What else can you compare this insane assault on other Orthodox Christians? Port Arthur? With Sevastopol? According to the intensity of the fire, you can. And because of the absurdity of the attackers and unnatural bitterness, it is impossible. There, foreign aggressors were attacking. And here the Orthodox Russians stormed their Orthodox brothers. Dozens of attacks were fought off one after another. This was not the case in the Brest Fortress. This was only in Sevastopol and Port Arthur. Of course, the defense of this stronghold will be included in the textbooks of military art around the world.

If you look at the airport terminals, you can see that the entire area around the buildings is open. These are either parking lots and porches in the front, or a concrete covering of the airfield in the back. For a frontal attack, it couldn't be worse. When landmines explode, all the fragments fly, ricocheting off the hard surface at an acute angle and hitting everything in its path. At the same time, there are no funnels at all on the concrete surface or almost none on the asphalt and there is nowhere to hide.

If you look closely at the photographs of the Donetsk airport terminal during its construction, you can see that the entire structure of the tall building is based on a large number of vertical powerful reinforced concrete columns, on which reinforced concrete floors of several levels lie. These multiple levels are visible everywhere except in the main hall. In the main central hall, you can see the reinforced concrete roof slabs and under them there is already the floor of the upper departure zone. At the same time, the arrival area was located below the overpass, also under powerful reinforced concrete ceilings. Basements of two or more levels were located under the arrivals area.

This design of the airport building made it difficult to invade artillery fire. Any high-explosive shells falling on the building from above should not have done much harm to him. Even high-explosive projectiles of 152 mm caliber, bursting on the concrete roof slabs, had to leave only small potholes in the high-strength concrete. It didn't hurt the defenders below that much. Concrete-piercing shells were hardly more effective. The concrete-piercing shell is designed to penetrate the concrete floor and hit the closed space of a bunker or dugout. Then he incapacitates the pillbox. But in this case, when we have a reinforced concrete box with a roof open from all sides, the impact of such a projectile should only lead to making a small hole in the roof. It turns out to be very difficult to hit the supporting structure during mounted shooting. The DPR detachments tried to kill the bearing reinforced concrete pillars when firing direct-fire tank guns. But even this is difficult. After all, getting from a tank into a bearing reinforced concrete pillar 70-80 cm wide is not so easy. And if the hit of a tank shell did happen, then it is possible to break the pillar with only a few hits. But this turned out to be the only way of assault. This happened in January, when tanks and direct-fire artillery fired at the terminal many times. But the terminal itself could not respond with artillery, because it did not have its own artillery weapons and there was nowhere to place it.

Only on the evening of January 21, after many days of shelling, Ukrainian troops left the new terminal. By this time, he had already been shot through and through. The militia declared victory, but the victory is doubtful. It was not in vain that the leaders of the militia appeared in front of video cameras outside residential buildings 700 meters from the terminal behind the slope. Ukrainian troops remained in positions around the airfield of the airport and they can just as well shoot through the ruins of the new terminal, as the militias used to do. Most likely, the ruins will be located in the no-man's land. The militias are unlikely to be able to gain a foothold in them.

These ruins will be a monument to the shame of our country. But they will also soon become a monument to Russian repentance. Repentance for fratricide.
And such repentance is not far off.