Battle of Ilovaisk

Battle of Ilovaisk
	Part of the war in Donbas
	; Withdrawal of Ukrainian forces on 29 August 2014
Date	7 August – 2 September 2014; (3 weeks and 5 days)
Location	Ilovaisk, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine
Result	DPR and Russian victory One of the factors that led to the signing of the Minsk Protocol;
Belligerents
Ukraine	Donetsk People's Republic; Russia
Commanders and leaders
V. V. Heletey; R. B. Khomchak; S. I. Semenchenko (WIA); Y. M. Bereza (WIA); R. O. Storcheus †	A. V. Zakharchenko; A. S. Khodakovsky; M. C. Tolstykh; A. S. Pavlov; V. V. Gerasimov
Units involved
Ground Forces 17th Tank Brigade; 28th Mechanized Brigade; 51st Mechanized Brigade; 92nd Mechanized Brigade; 93rd Mechanized Brigade; Dnipro-2; Kryvbas; Rukh Oporu; National Guard Donbas Battalion; Patrol Police Azov Battalion; Dnipro-1; Shakhtarsk; Kherson Battalion; Svityaz Company; Right Sector Ukrainian Volunteer Corps;	Russian Army; (denied by Russia) 6th Tank Brigade; 8th Motor Rifle Brigade; 18th Motor Rifle Brigade; 21st Motor Rifle Brigade; Russian Airborne Troops 31st Air Assault Brigade; 137th Airborne Regiment; 247th Air Assault Regiment; 331st Airborne Regiment; 1065th Artillery Regiment; Donbass People's Militia Oplot Battalion; Vostok Battalion; Somalia Battalion; Sparta Battalion;
Strength
Encircled forces:; 1,200–1,400; Deblock forces:; 400	4,000–4,100 (Ukraine claim)
Casualties and losses
366 killed; 429 wounded; 128 captured; 158 missing (acc. Ukrainian military); 420 killed; 13 captured; 40 missing (acc. BBC News Ukrainian); 1,000+ killed (acc. Verkhovna Rada & People's Front)	150 killed (regular forces; acc. Russian opposition); 200 killed (separatists; acc. Al Jazeera); 200+ killed; 20 captured (acc. Ukrainian government)
	36–100 civilians killed

The Battle of Ilovaisk started on 7 August 2014, when the Armed Forces of Ukraine and pro-Ukrainian paramilitaries began a series of attempts to capture the city of Ilovaisk from pro-Russian insurgents affiliated with the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and detachments of the Russian Armed Forces. Although Ukrainian forces were able to enter the city on 18 August, they were encircled between 24 and 26 August by overwhelming Russian military forces that crossed the border, joining the battle. After days of encirclement, Ukrainian forces rejected the DPR's proposal to open a humanitarian corridor on the condition that they abandon their armored vehicles and ammunition, and on the morning of 29 August 2014 began to leave Ilovaisk with their weapons. The Russian side opened fire on the evacuating Ukrainian soldiers, many of whom died whilst trying to escape.

The Chief of the General Staff and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Viktor Muzhenko, claimed on 26 August 2016 that the cause of the battle's outcome was the involvement of Russian troops, along with Ukrainian commanders' incompetence in the planning of the retreat.

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