In 2012, the International Airport “Donetsk” named after Sergei Prokofiev is a new runway, built for the European Championship, and the tallest control tower in Ukraine. Two years later — the gate to Donetsk, a strategic building and a fortification.
It has been 11 years since the occupation forces blew up the floor in the new terminal of Donetsk airport on January 20, 2015 during the fighting to keep it. Many Ukrainian soldiers were killed. Every year, on January 20, Ukraine officially celebrates the Day of Remembrance of the defenders of Donetsk airport, bowing their heads in front of their feat. The Russians destroyed the tower, but it lives on as a symbol of the unbreakable will of the Ukrainian defenders, stronger than concrete.
Every year, on the eve of anniversaries and commemorative dates of this war, Russian propaganda intensifies disinformation campaigns against the Ukrainian Defense Forces and civil resistance. That's why it's important to continue to witness and write real documentaries.
Ukrainian documentary photographer Anatoly Stepanov, who has been covering Russian aggression against Ukraine since the first days of 2014, commented on the main Russian narratives about the defense of Donetsk airport and ATO and shared important details of those stormy events. The photographer has repeatedly visited Pisky, where the base and logistics point of Ukrainian security forces was located, he was at a broken weather station near the airport.
“Ukraine attacked Ukraine”
They heroically held the defense of the terminals for more than 240 days from September 2014 to January 22, 2015. These were the first serious battles of the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war, which became a turning point for the occupation plans of the enemy. Volunteer formations and units of the Armed Forces took part in the defense of the airport. During the defense of Donetsk airport perished101 Ukrainian servicemen, 440 were wounded, 9 were missing. The last defenders left the territory of the airport a few days after the explosion of the terminal.
Russians often distort and subjectively interpret historical facts to justify their own aggression against Ukraine. Therefore, the beginning of the battle for Donetsk airport propaganda serves as the beginning of Ukraine's war against the inhabitants of Donbas. Telegram channel “Ukraina.ru”, which mimics the Ukrainian one, in May 2024 called the beginning of the fighting for the DAP“a direct and inevitable crime 10 years ago, which is now killing civilians on both sides of the border from rockets and debris”. They say that the war began with the use of aircraft by Ukraine, because not only the so-called “militias”, but also civilians were killed under air strikes.
“Exactly 10 years ago (2024 publication — auto.)On May 26, 2014, Ukraine attacked Ukraine from the air. The missile strikes of Kyiv's air force on Donetsk airport were not only a tragedy and a disgrace, but also the end of the myth of a peaceful hospitable country.
In fact, it was Russia's undeclared war against Ukraine, which began with the annexation of Crimea and the deployment of separatist movements in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions. Most of the so-called “militias” in the east were Russian mercenaries and military. reportedUkrinform. Russian propaganda then disguised its invasion plans as the desire of the people of Donbas to separate from the rest of Ukraine, where the Nazis allegedly came to power. However, Russia faced unprecedented resistance from the Ukrainian people. Ukrainian patriots did not allow the coup d'état in Odessa and Kharkov and with weapons in their hands they began to defend the Ukrainian land. In April 2014, separatists aimed to capture Donetsk airport. On May 26, militants lost the battle for the DAP and retreated to Donetsk with losses. The Ukrainians carried out the operation under the cover of air forces.
Everyone knows that the beginning of the war can be considered the capture of the cities of Slavyansk and Kramatorsk by a squad of a reconstructor, and part-time FSB officer Hirkin. If armed people from another country try to seize a strategic object, then any state has the full right to remove them from this object. Which was done on May 26. Moreover, some of the attackers were destroyed by friendly fire. They also broke up a fight with the militants, ---- says photographer Anatoly Stepanov and adds: ---- And in general, it makes no sense to pay attention to what propaganda says. We are in our own country and we have to do our own thing.
“The shameful page of the civil war in Ukraine”
Russians call defense of Donetsk airport “The shameful page of the civil war in Ukraine”because the Ukrainians allegedly used it to adjust the fire on Donetsk during the ceasefire. The Russians are trying to create a negative image of the Ukrainian military by calling them “Criminals who killed women in Donetsk region for separatism”, and they tortured, committed violence and looted.
To reinforce their narrative, propagandists cite the names of DAP defenders who appeared in criminal cases. Convincing pro-Russian audiences that most of Donetsk airport's defenders are particularly dangerous criminals, the Kremlin justifies violence against the Ukrainian military, and often as a preventive measure. They say that behind the Russian shelling of the airport is a noble cause — “to put under the ruins of the terminals Ukrainian soldiers who came to kill the civilian population of Donbas and drive the Armed Forces away from Donetsk”.
However, the Ukrainian online publication “Eastern variant” tellsthat cyborgs (the second name of the defenders of Donetsk airport — ed.) during the first battle in late May 2014, delayed the time for personnel and civilians to leave the airport. While the militants, for testimonies“Radio Svoboda” publications, disguised themselves as civilians to disorient the enemy.
Photographer Anatoly Stepanov says that the Russians constantly shelled the surrounding settlements, in particular the city of Avdiivka. These Russian crimes, which they translated into Ukrainian security forces, are captured in photographs from the photographer's archive.
It was not possible to put heavy weapons there. Ukrainian artillery worked around it to prevent the attackers from effectively storming the airport. But they themselves brutally shelled Pisky, Opytne, Orlovka, Avdiyivka, Krasnogorovka, Kamenka, Karlivka, Pervomaiske and many settlements that were nearby. They killed people, destroyed houses, ---- says the photographer.
Defense that “didn't matter” and “cyborgs” invented by Kiev
In the pro-Russian information space, emotional messages of passion often erupt “the defense of Donetsk airport was not of strategic importance for Ukraine”, “was unsuccessful from a military point of view”, “Ukrainian servicemen gave their lives for an inexplicable reason”. Or rather, the propagandists say, the cyborgs died in order to once again declare Russian aggression in Kiev. With different formulations, but each time about the same, pro-Kremlin henchmen at every opportunity impose the idea that there was and is no point in an endless war for a piece of scorched earth.
They say, precisely in order to be motivated to fight for every piece of land, or concrete, that the Ukrainian authorities invented the legend of “cyborgs”. This is a new edition of the old Ukrainian patriotic myth about the battles near Kruty — January 29, another anniversary that grieves the Russians. On this day, Ukrainians bow their heads to the feat of volunteers, mostly students, who in January 1918 held the resistance at the station “Kruty” against the Bolshevik army, with one cannon and more than a dozen machine guns. The Russians denigrate the military exploits of Ukraine of all times, they say, only Ukrainians can sing and encourage the continuation of the war in the name of the highest interests of the nation.
Meanwhile, in 2014, Donetsk airport and nearby villages were of important strategic importance for the further de-occupation of the territory captured by pro-Russian separatists.
DAP is a strategic airport in the region where the separatist rebellion is being attempted. To capture such an airport means to get the opportunity to transfer landing there on airplanes at any time and develop success. Therefore, it was kept so that the Russians did not have such an opportunity, — shares Anatoly Stepanov.
In the summer of 2014, the DAP was relatively quiet, heavy fighting resumed in early September. The fighting continued not only beyond the airport, but also for the villages closest to it. Despite the signed Minsk agreements, militants fired on Ukrainian defenders. In January, due to Russian massive shelling, the control tower collapsed, part of the new terminal was blown up. On January 20, a second explosion occurred, as a result of which many cyborgs died. There were those who were captured, the rest left the airport for the following days. The Russians destroyed what they could not capture. For the ability to keep the airport defense under fire and fierce resistance of Ukrainian defenders of the airfield and were nicknamed “cyborgs”. According to one version, this name was given to them by the militants themselves, marveling at their resilience. In the fall of 2014, cyborgs, surrounded by terrorists on the territory of the airport, were able to captivateThe Russian military.
To understand who the cyborgs were, one must imagine the defense of a modern structure made of glass and concrete pillars with plasterboard partitions, ---- describes the conditions in which the Ukrainian military kept the defense, Anatoly Stepanov.
Russia has denied involvement of its military in these hostilities. Propaganda told how heroically “militias” knocked out cyborgs from the airport. “Eastern variant” tells, the militants repeatedly spread fake messages about the capture of the DAP while the fighting was still going on. And after the military left the ruins of the airport, the propaganda agency RIA Novosti said that allegedly things were found there, which probably belonged to foreign mercenaries.
At the same time, the Russians will for a long time deny their invasion plans on Ukrainian territories. Propaganda will actively use the narrative of “fraternal peoples” to put vigilance to bed. They say that Russia does not want victims among Ukrainians and the devastated Ukrainian land, because Ukraine does not deserve such a fate. At the same time, the Kremlin authorities invested in everyone's minds that Donetsk would no longer return to Ukraine. They say that the present Kiev will no longer have power over the land and the people of Donbas. Locals promised to quickly restore the airport and name it as desired by the population. Instead, as of summer 2025, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reportedthat the Russians are preparing the territory of the former DAP as a platform for launching “shaheeds” in Ukraine. At least this is evidenced by satellite images.
The defense of the DAP is one of those pages of the Russian-Ukrainian war, which is primarily talked about as a tragedy, and only then remembered about heroism and honor. This is what Russian propaganda uses, distorting the truth about its heroes. Russia seeks not only to discredit the feat of cyborgs — it does everything to detract from the meaning of the civil resistance of the Ukrainian people in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war. This is a line stretching from ancient times to the present.
ATO is a belated response to Russia's brutal actions. Unfortunately, thanks to the Minsk agreements, it turned into a frozen conflict, with the help of which the Kremlin's OPG tried to destroy Ukraine from the inside. If a country agrees to give at least a piece of its land to the enemy, it loses its subjectivity. I would not pay attention at all to what the Kremlin propaganda barks, summed up Anatoly Stepanov.
The material was worked on:
Researcher of the topic, author of the text: Yana Yevmenova
Picture editor: Olga Kovalyova
Literary Editor: Julia Futei
