17.01.2026, Aleksandrovskoye.
Eleven years ago, on January 17, 2015, the Essence of Time unit in Donbass suffered its first bitter loss — during a heavy, many-hour battle at Donetsk Airport, three of our comrades were killed: Pyatnitsa (Evgeny Krasnoshein), Bolgarin (Igor Yudin), and Belka (Evgeny Belyaev).
The day before, on January 16, 2015, people’s militia forces managed to take control of the new terminal. At the request of the Ukrainian side, January 17 was declared a “day of silence” for negotiations and the evacuation of the wounded. However, the Ukrainian militants violated the agreement and on January 17 launched a massive attack, attempting to dislodge the militia from the airport.
One of the strikes hit the Monastyr position, which was defended by servicemen of the Essence of Time unit of the Vostok Brigade. “Tryoshka” — a semi-destroyed three-story monastic building where nine servicemen of the unit were on combat duty that day — was attacked by Ukrainian tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, and enemy infantry.
The combat lasted for many hours. The first attempt to break through was unsuccessful. Only on the second attempt — closer to ten o’clock in the evening — were our servicemen able, with the help of light armored vehicles, to reach Tryoshka from the side of the collapsed control tower and begin evacuating the wounded and the dead.
January 17, 2015 divided life for all of us into BEFORE and AFTER. Our comrades fell in the combal.
Eleven years have passed. The Essence of Time unit continues to fight the Ukrainian militants. Over these years, many of our brothers, including our commander Volga, have given their lives in battles with the enemy. But it is precisely on January 17 that we remember all of our fallen.
We remember each one.
We feel their unseen presence.
Victory will be ours.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
