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| Battle of Luhansk Airport | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the war in Donbas | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Ukraine |
 Russia Luhansk People's Republic | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Viktor Muzhenko Andriy Kovalchuk Anatoliy Taranyuk |
Valery Gerasimov Igor Plotnitsky | ||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
 Ukrainian Ground Forces |
 Russian Ground Forces | ||||||
The Battle for Luhansk Airport was a 2014 battle during the war in Donbas for control of Luhansk International Airport. Ukrainian paratroopers defended the airport while encircled without ground communication. In July, Ukrainian troops broke through to the airport, unblocking it.
As a result of the August offensive by Russian troops, the airport was again encircled. The buildings were completely destroyed by Russian artillery. On the night of 1 September 2014, Ukrainian defenders left the ruins of the airport, after 146 days of its defense.
Prerequisites
editLuhansk International Airport is located south of the city of Luhansk, at a distance of 9 km from the city limits (Vydny microdistrict). With the beginning of the escalation of pro-Russian protests in the east of Ukraine, when the Luhansk Security Service was captured on April 6, and the creation of the DPR and the People's Republic of China was announced on April 7, in order to prevent the capture of the airport, which could later result in the transfer of Russian military forces by air or the appearance of a military aviation, formations of airmobile forces of Ukraine were flown to the airport.[1]
Timeline
editOn 11 June 2014, the airport was closed due to hostilities.[2] That same day, another convoy of transport planes, three IL-76 planes was heading to the airport. The first Il-76 successfully landed, and when the second Il-76 tried to land, it was shot down by pro-Russian militants. The third plane changed course and turned back, after which air service to the airport was suspended.[3]
After the suspension of air traffic, as of June 14, 2014, 16 BTR-80, 7 BMD-2, 6 120-caliber mortars, 6 units of Zu-23-2 and several GAZ-66, and 350-370 personnel were stationed at the airport. The Ukrainian group of forces was surrounded.[3] The units composed of the 80th brigade, an engineering company, a part of the reconnaissance company of the 1st OTBr, a combined company of the 25th separate airborne brigade.[4]
See also: Battles under Metalist
On July 6, pro-Russian militants first fired at the airport building and its defenders with Grad missiles.
References
edit- ^ Шрамович, Святослав Хоменко, Вячеслав (2017-04-14). "Александр Турчинов: "Наша задача - продвигаться на восток"". BBC Русская служба. Archived from the original on 2017-04-14. Retrieved 2017-04-21.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "Три аеропорти на Сході України закрилися до кращих часів - 19.06.2014 23:44 — Новини Укрінформ" (in Ukrainian). 2017-10-09. Archived from the original on 2017-10-09. Retrieved 2024-09-21.
- ^ a b "Злочин і кара. Деблокада Луганського аеропорту - Обитель цивилизатора" (in Ukrainian). 2016-12-07. Archived from the original on 2016-12-07. Retrieved 2024-09-21.
- ^ "До річниці початку АТО та оборони Луганського аеропорту: як це було" (in Ukrainian). 2021-04-23. Archived from the original on 2021-04-23. Retrieved 2024-09-21.