Fights on the Ukrainian–Russian border (2014)
| Battle on the border | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the war in Donbas | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Ukraine |
Russia Donetsk PR Luhansk PR | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
ATO Commander: Viktor Muzhenko Chief of staff of the Anti-Terrorist Operation: Viktor Nazarov Sector D Commander: Petro Lytvyn (until 23 July) Yuriy Sodol Olexiy Shandar Mykhailo Zabrodskyi Mykola Lytvyn Oleksander Binkovsky Ihor Momot † Serhiy Kryvonosov † |
Igor Girkin Alexander Khodakovsky Valery Bolotov | ||||||||
Fights on the Ukrainian–Russian border in 2014, also called the Operation to restore the state border, the Battle at the border, the Battle in sector D, the Izvarinsky Encirclement, and the Dovzhansky Encirclement, was a phase of the war in Donbas in which the Armed Forces of Ukraine fought Russian-backed separatist forces over control of areas of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.
Fighting broke out in Sector D of the anti-terrorist operation during the "operation to restore the state border" during June–August 2014. The main task of the Anti-Terrorist Operation Forces was to restore control over the section of the state border Izvaryne – Kumachovo and to cut the routes for illegal armed groups.
Establishing border control was a key point in the peace plan of newly elected President Petro Poroshenko. The offensive of the anti-terrorist operation forces began on 12 June. During the confrontation, Ukrainian units came under artillery fire from the territory of the Russian Federation. During numerous battles, the Ukrainian military failed to regain control of the Izvaryne checkpoint. With the loss of control over the settlements of Stepanovka, Marynivka and the Marynivka checkpoint in mid-July, anti-terrorist operation forces east of the village of Marynivka found themselves in an actual environment of the main forces. The besieged units were unblocked and in fact the battle ended on 7 August with the release of the last units that performed the task of blocking the state border. The battle on the border was the first major defeat for the anti-terrorist operation forces. As a result, control over the state border from Izvaryny to Marynivka was lost. The Armed Forces, the National Guard and the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine have suffered heavy losses in both personnel and equipment. The Armed Forces of Ukraine suffered particularly heavy losses.
Fighting at the border significantly limited the ability to supply from Russia, and after capturing hundreds of kilometers of the state border, the ability to supply militants, equipment and ammunition from Russia was limited only by its own available resources. As the supply of militants came exclusively from Russia, border control was a key point of settlement and later became one of the foundations of the Minsk Protocol.