On the morning of May 22, 2014, near the town of Volnovakha, between the villages of Blahodatne and Olginka, a Russian sabotage group attacked a checkpoint manned by the 3rd Mechanized Battalion of the 51st Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The enemy unleashed heavy fire from small arms, anti-tank grenade launchers, and machine guns, and threw hand grenades at the camp of the Ukrainian military unit. During the attack, one of the shells struck a combat vehicle, causing its ammunition to detonate.
After recovering from the initial shock, several of our soldiers returned fire. As a result of the battle, 18 Ukrainian soldiers were killed, and about 30 more were wounded. At that time, these were the Ukrainian army’s heaviest single-day combat losses since the start of the War for Ukraine’s Independence.
Officers and contract soldiers from the Rivne, Volyn, Khmelnytskyi, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Vinnytsia regions fought their final, unequal battle.
Eternal memory to the Defenders of Ukraine!
Glory to the Heroes of Ukraine!