Aug. 29 is Ukraine’s Day of Remembrance for Fallen Defenders, honoring the soldiers and volunteers who gave their lives protecting the country from Russian aggression.
On this day 11 years ago, during the Russian invasion of Donbas, more than a thousand soldiers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and volunteer battalions defending the city of Ilovaisk in the Donetsk region were encircled.
In their attempt to break through, 366 soldiers and officers were killed, over 400 wounded, and about 300 taken prisoner. Russian and pro-Russian militant losses exceeded 500. This marked the first major battle between Ukrainian and Russian forces on Ukrainian soil following the direct invasion of regular Russian troops, including units of the 104th Airborne Division.
The sunflower has since become the symbol of this day, as Ukrainian troops tried to break out of the Ilovaisk encirclement through the surrounding sunflower fields.
Read more about the 2014 Russian invasion and the battles near Ilovaisk in a Kyiv Post interview with a soldier who managed to escape the encirclement.
Learn about the partisan resistance in occupied Donbas, which began after Aug. 29, in a Kyiv Post interview with Volodymyr Zhemchuhov, one of the leaders of the Luhansk partisan movement.
“With gratitude, we remember the defenders of Ukraine. Those who, at the cost of their own lives, stopped the enemy from the very beginning of Russian aggression. They are true heroes, an example of strength, loyalty, and sacrifice. The symbol of this day is the sunflower. It grew in the battlefields near Ilovaisk, where in 2014 Ukrainian warriors rose to defend the Motherland. Thanks to them, Ukraine lives. We continue the struggle for our victory and independence,” Ukraine’s Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal stated on his Telegram channel.