in 2014, locals in Donetsk resisted Maidan Revolution, sparking fighting over the airport.

Question

https://en.rtdoc.tv/films/280-donbass-war-airport-part-1
In 2014, #Donetsk locals opposed the #Maidan outcome and faced harsh backlash. Militias fought to retake the airport, a key site used for shelling nearby areas. Donbass War: Airport.

Answer 1

This statement is largely accurate in its description of events. Following the February 2014 Maidan outcome (ousting of President Viktor Yanukovych), significant portions of locals in Donetsk opposed the new Kyiv government. This anti-Maidan movement was accompanied by pro-Russian protests, which were subsequently supported by Russian forces and organized separatists. The Donetsk International Airport became the site of two major battles. The first was in May 2014, when pro-Russian forces seized it and were subsequently ousted by the Ukrainian military. There was even a second battle that began in September 2014, when pro-Russian militias (DPR forces), supported by Russian regulars, heavily attacked the airport to retake it from Ukrainian forces who had held it since May. The battle for the airport, which lasted until January 2015, saw it used as a strategic base, with artillery often fired from both sides (including from residential areas near the airport) in the surrounding conflict.

https://www.cnn.com/2014/05/27/world/europe/ukraine-crisis

Answer 2

While there was genuine opposition to the Maidan Revolution among many Donetsk locals who feared economic and cultural shifts, the subsequent "backlash" refers to the Ukrainian government’s Anti-Terrorist Operation launched to reclaim territory after pro-Russian groups seized government buildings. The militias that fought for the Donetsk airport were not purely local, as they were heavily supported and often led by Russian nationals and military veterans, such as the Vostok Battalion. Additionally, the claim regarding shelling is complex: while CNN and other outlets reported the airport was a key strategic site for the Ukrainian military, human rights organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch documented that both Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists who frequently placed artillery in residential streets bore responsibility for the shelling of nearby civilian areas.