The occupiers staged a protest near the destroyed Donetsk airport
Russian occupiers have erected a propaganda banner near the Serhiy Prokofiev Donetsk International Airport, which they completely destroyed. On the banner, they posted a fabricated “flight schedule” to Ukrainian and European cities.
On a road near the airport, the invaders set up a sign reading “Donetsk International Airport,” styled to look like an airport information board.
It lists fictitious flights to Kyiv, Lviv, Berlin, and Dnipro—which the occupiers refer to by its Soviet-era name, “Dnipropetrovsk.” The display also shows fictitious flight numbers and departure times.
This gesture appears particularly cynical given that Donetsk Airport was completely destroyed by Russian troops during the fighting in 2014–2015 and has not been operational for over ten years.
The defense of Donetsk International Airport lasted 242 days—from May 26, 2014, to January 22, 2015. Ukrainian soldiers bravely repelled numerous attacks by Russian forces and the militants under their control, earning them the legendary nickname “cyborgs.”
Due to continuous shelling by heavy artillery and “Grad” multiple-launch rocket systems, the modern airport complex was completely reduced to ruins.
The story of the airport’s destruction began on May 26, 2014, when Ukrainian special forces successfully repelled the first attempt to seize the terminal, though the infrastructure had already sustained damage by then.
In the fall of 2014, Russian forces and the militants under their control began daily massive assaults using tanks and artillery, which led to critical damage to the Old Terminal.
On January 13, 2015, the legendary control tower—one of the main symbols of the airport’s defense—collapsed under heavy shelling.
The fighting culminated on January 20, 2015, when the occupiers blew up the load-bearing columns of the New Terminal. Ukrainian soldiers inside the building were killed when the floors collapsed.
Due to the complete destruction of the facility and the inability to continue the defense, a decision was made on January 22–23 for Ukrainian defenders to withdraw from the airport grounds.
Earlier, relatives of several servicemen from the Russian Federation’s 102nd Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment discovered the graves of Russian soldiers at a cemetery for unclaimed bodies in the town of Mospyne near Donetsk. This was reported by local activists involved in the search for missing servicemen.
Russian occupiers are actively modernizing and expanding the infrastructure of Donetsk Airport, adapting it for the launch and storage of “Geran” and “Gerbera” attack drones.
