{"id":1900,"date":"2014-10-18T22:24:42","date_gmt":"2014-10-18T20:24:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/?p=1900"},"modified":"2015-12-24T14:37:54","modified_gmt":"2015-12-24T14:37:54","slug":"donetsk-airport-mix-blood-lies-heroism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/donetsk-airport-mix-blood-lies-heroism\/","title":{"rendered":"Donetsk Airport \u2013 Mix of Blood, Lies and Heroism"},"content":{"rendered":"

PART 1: BACKGROUND AND THE FIRST BATTLE OVER THE AIRPORT<\/strong><\/p>\n

Heavy fighting has been ongoing for control of Donetsk Airport for over a month now. Mass heroism is shown by both sides \u2013 ones side protecting the airport, the other leaving piles of dead bodies. The heroes are surrounded by hard curtain of lies, myths and populism. To honor the dead protectors of the airport we decided to uncover the truth to these events and debunk the myths created in Moscow and Kyiv.<\/p>\n

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\"Info<\/a><\/dt>\n
Info graphics \u2013 Common Plan of Donetsk Sergei Prokofiev Airport.
\n1 \u2013 m\/u A1428 air defense; 2 \u2013 Plant and base of the company which built the new terminal; 3 \u2013 m\/u A1402 air defense, Names of settlements and road directions are underlined.
\nArea Name Labels: (anti-clockwise): Airport; Pesky, Karlovka; Opytne; Avdeevka; Horlovka. All these settlements except Horlovka were brought under Ukrainian Army control during the period from May to July.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

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The Development of Donetsk Sergei Prokofiev Airport<\/strong><\/p>\n

The airfield in Stalino (the name of Donetsk in 1924\u20131941 and 1943\u20131961) was built on blood. First bulldozers started leveling the airstrip area in 1933, the period of mass starvation in Ukrainian history. Even Russian historians who argue the pros and cons of Stalin\u2019s guilt do not deny the fact of the starvation of the Ukrainian population. The first passenger aircrafts were flying from Donetsk to Starobelsk, a city in Luhansk region some 160km from the airport.<\/p>\n

\"main<\/a>In preparation for the for Euro 2012 Football Cup a massive upgrade of the airport was undertaken. In June 2011 a new runway was built, and in May 2012 the new terminal completed which could accept 3100 passengers per hour. The Ukrainian construction company “Altcom” built the new terminal, which had been developed by experts from Croatia. The development was done pretty well, and the 7 billion Hrivnas (or 875 million US dollars) spent on the upgrade was considered a sound investment. But although the football championship came to an end the building plans were still not finished. Donetsk oligarchs, as real feudal lords, could not see themselves using the common terminal. So the Government started building the VIP terminal, from tax-payers money.<\/p>\n

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The new airport could accept any class of aircraft. During 2013 more than a million passengers passed through the terminals. Besides Akhmetov\u2019s charter planes, the airport worked with more than ten airlines. The main routes out of Donetsk were Kyiv and Moscow. Almost all another flights went to Turkey, servicing tourists visiting Turkish resorts. To Europe there was just one flight to Munich. There were also flights to Greece, Emirates, Kutaisi, Surgut, Ashgabat, and Israel. The airport also handled cargo planes.<\/p>\n

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The Fight Begins<\/strong><\/p>\n

After the separatists seized Slaviansk a squad from the 3rd Special Forces Regiment of the Ukrainian Army arrived to the airport. The squad was based in the old terminal, and the airport continued working. In May the troops of Khodakovsky, named \u201cVostok battalion\u201d arrived to Dontesk. There were lot of people of Caucasus origin \u2013 from Chechnya, Dagestan and others areas.<\/p>\n

On the 26th<\/sup> of May Khodakovsky (who according to some sources was the former commander of \u201cAlpha\u201d, a Ukrainian Special Forces Battalion), held negotiations with the commander of the Ukrainian Special Forces squad at the airport. It is believed the discussion was something like this:<\/p>\n