Mikhail Tolstykh

Komsomolskaya Pravda is a daily Russian tabloid newspaper that was founded in 1925.

Ilovaisk is a city in Khartsyzk municipality, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. The city is de facto under the military occupation of Russia and administered by the Donetsk People's Republic.

The Georgians, or Kartvelians, are a nation and indigenous Caucasian ethnic group native to Georgia and the South Caucasus. Georgian diaspora communities are also present throughout Russia, Turkey, Greece, Iran, Ukraine, United States, and European Union.

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-backed military groups. 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 Donetsk People's Republic is an unrecognised republic of Russia in the occupied parts of eastern Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast, with its capital in Donetsk. The DPR was created by militarily-armed Russian-backed separatists in 2014, and it initially operated as a breakaway state until it was annexed by Russia in 2022.

A part of the ongoing war in the Donbas region of Ukraine, the Second Battle of Donetsk Airport began on 28 September 2014. An earlier battle in May 2014 had left Donetsk International Airport in Ukrainian control. Despite a ceasefire agreement, the Minsk Protocol, in place starting 5 September 2014, fighting broke out between Donetsk People's Republic forces affiliated with Russia, and Ukrainian military and volunteer forces.

The European Council is a collegiate body that defines the overall political direction and priorities of the European Union. The European Council is part of the executive of the European Union (EU), beside the European Commission. It is composed of the heads of state or government of the EU member states, the President of the European Council, and the President of the European Commission. The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy also takes part in its meetings.

Oleksandra Vyacheslavivna Matviichuk is a Ukrainian human rights lawyer and civil society leader based in Kyiv. She heads the non-profit organization Centre for Civil Liberties and is an active campaigner for democratic reforms in her country and the OSCE region.

The Geneva Conventions are four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish international legal standards for humanitarian treatment in war. The singular term Geneva Convention usually denotes the agreements of 1949, negotiated in the aftermath of the Second World War (1939–1945), which updated the terms of the two 1929 treaties and added two new conventions. The Geneva Conventions extensively define the basic rights of wartime prisoners, civilians and military personnel, established protections for the wounded and sick, and provided protections for the civilians in and around a war-zone.

Donetsk, formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka, Stalin and Stalino, is an industrial city in eastern Ukraine located on the Kalmius River in Donetsk Oblast. The population was estimated at 901,645 in the city core, with over 2 million in the metropolitan area (2011). According to the 2001 census, Donetsk was the fifth-largest city in Ukraine.

The RPO-A Shmel is a man-portable disposable rocket-assisted flamethrower, It is classified as a thermobaric warhead rocket launcher by some in the West.