DONETSK, Ukraine — It’s been over two-and-a-half years since the last of Ukraine’s army units retreated from Donetsk airport after their defenses were finally overwhelmed by Russian-led forces in January 2015.
The dramatic battle for the airport lasted for 242 days, and the site became one of the biggest symbols of Ukraine’s defiance of the Kremlin’s military intervention in the country. It was also where the so-called “cyborgs” – a nickname for the Ukrainian soldiers who fought fiercely to retain control of the strategic position – became a modern military legend.
But Ukraine’s forces did not retreat far from the airport. Many months after the battle, the army still keeps much of the airport territory under fire control, preventing the enemy from deploying forces in the open beside the ruined terminals and runways.
That mission is currently being fulfilled by Ukrainian soldiers from the 72nd Mechanized Brigade.
They are manning one of the most important of Ukraine’s defensive positions in the war-torn wasteland south of Avdiyivka, to the north of the airport – the so-called Zenith position. Graveyards of rusty destroyed tanks and shattered military trucks lie around its trenches – Zenith was one of the most crucial support points for the airport’s Ukrainian defenders, and it saw some of the bloodiest and most vicious fighting.
The position is less than three kilometers from Donetsk airport – within the firing range of a heavy machine gun. Through their binoculars, soldiers can see the embattled terminals in close detail. They still lie utterly ruined and abandoned, despite the fact that the Russian-led forces threw thousands of lives into battle to retake them. From their trenches, even occupied Donetsk seems just an arm’s length away – the city’s skyscrapers can be seen springing from beyond the woods along the enemy lines.
As long as the Ukrainians remain at Zenith, Russian-led forces cannot feel safe anywhere at the ruined airport, so fighting still goes on as the enemy attempts to force the Ukrainian soldiers back from the position.
However, the Ukrainian military keeps the enemy lines in their cross-hairs and fight back – in the hope of one day raising their flags over the symbolic airport again.
