Shakhtarsk battalion accuses Korban of Ilovaisk tragedy

On the Shakhtarsk battalion and its short existence.

The Shakhtarsk battalion was organised in June. The battalion commander, Andriy Filonenko, then said the following: “Our battalion was formed under the MIA. We communicate directly with the minister, which is pleasing. He always finds time for a conversation. We also communicate with the minister’s adviser, Anton Gerashchenko. [In creating the battalion] the Dnipropetrovsk regional state administration, represented by Hennadiy Korban, and MP Oleh Lyashko helped above all. Korban gave us a base, he feeds us, provides transport. In principle, everyone helps with what they can. Vitaliy Kropachev, head of the Party of Regions branch in Toretsk, who criticised the DNR, is also involved with the battalion. Anton Gerashchenko helps. These are our ‘godfathers’.

The battalion was new and essentially represented those volunteer battalions that had no control whatsoever at the start of the war. Everyone did what they wanted. Some fought, some fought and looted. But that is not the point. Shakhtarsk was indeed a combat-capable unit and numbered several hundred actual combat personnel.

Then Ilovaisk struck. Shakhtarsk was one of the battalions that Korban sent to Ilovaisk. Together with other battalions he had influence over (Dnipro-1, Kryvbas, Azov, etc.), the BTGr under the command of General Khomyachok advanced on Ilovaisk and suffered the most crushing defeat in this war. Khomyachok and Berezovets, having “come out with arms in hand”, naturally rushed to point the finger at other General Staff generals responsible for the defeat, from Muzhenko to Litvin, but the soldiers who were there are harder to deceive than the public…

Andriy Filonenko spoke out and openly accused Korban of this adventurous operation, as well as of the fact that the advance on Ilovaisk was carried out relying on false data.

Details:

On 13 October, the commander of the “Shakhtarsk” battalion, Andriy Filonenko, stated that the deputy governor of Dnipropetrovsk, Hennadiy Korban, was involved in planning the operation to take Ilovaisk.

He said this at a meeting of the temporary investigative commission investigating the deaths of Ukrainian military personnel near Ilovaisk.

Filonenko noted that on 5 August, Korban held a meeting, at which, in addition to him, the “Donbas” battalion commander Semen Semenchenko, the “Azov” battalion commander Andriy Biletsky, and the Sector “B” commander General Ruslan Khomyachok were present.

“The meeting was dedicated to planning the operation to clear and take Ilovaisk... Korban set all the tasks there... Khomyachok did not command everything there; in my opinion, Korban commanded everything there,” − said the battalion commander.

According to Filonenko, there was no order from the MIA leadership to involve special forces battalions in the operation; the battalions were subordinate directly to General Khomyachok.

The “Shakhtarsk” battalion commander stated that on 7 August he had intelligence data on a significant increase in the number of terrorists in Ilovaisk.

He claimed that he provided this data to Korban, the leadership of the “Azov” and “Dnipro-1” battalions.

Filonenko claims that they ignored this data and insisted on the small number of the enemy and the possibility of taking the city with the forces of the “Shakhtarsk”, “Azov” and “Dnipro-1” battalions.

In October, Filonenko gave testimony to the commission formed by the Verkhovna Rada, which investigated the Ilovaisk tragedy.

Details:

On 20 October, the interim report of the Temporary Investigative Commission of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on the investigation of the circumstances of the tragic events that led to the death and capture of volunteer battalion fighters, as well as Armed Forces of Ukraine personnel near the city of Ilovaisk in Donetsk region, was published.

According to the report, the plan for the operation before the advance on the city of Ilovaisk in Donetsk region was developed in early August of this year under the leadership of the commander of the “South” operational command, Lieutenant General Khomyachok, who is the head of Sector “B”.

Subsequently, the ATO headquarters decided on “Conducting a military operation to defeat the main forces of illegal armed formations in the city of Ilovaisk and taking it under control”.
The conduct of this operation was part of the ATO headquarters plan to encircle Donetsk via Ilovaisk and then to Zughres, with the task of cutting the Shakhtarsk-Donetsk highway.

When planning the taking of Ilovaisk, the Sector “B” leadership relied on intelligence data received from the ATO headquarters stating that 30 to 80 separatists from among local residents, armed with small arms, were in the city, and there was no organised defence.

In addition, the information of the commander of the 40th Territorial Defence Battalion “Kryvbas”, Colonel Motriy A.V., and the commander of the reconnaissance unit of the 40th battalion, Oleksandr Tkachov, requires further verification, who noted that at a meeting held on 8 August at the location of the 40th Territorial Defence Battalion “Kryvbas” in the settlement of Starobesheve, the information about the presence of a fortified area and a significant number of well-armed terrorists in Ilovaisk was brought to the attention of the Sector “B” head, General Khomyachok.

The report notes that on 5 August, a meeting of General Khomyachok with the commanders of the volunteer battalions “Donbas” (National Guard unit 3027) and the special purpose volunteer battalions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs “Dnipro-1”, “Azov” and “Shakhtarsk”, allocated by the ATO headquarters for the operation to clear Ilovaisk, took place at the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration. The operation plan was discussed at the meeting with the participation of Hennadiy Korban, deputy head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration.
The question to which the Commission did not receive a logical answer is why, in the “military operation to defeat the main forces of illegal armed formations in the city of Ilovaisk and taking it under control”, Armed Forces units participated in blocking the city, while the defeat of the main forces of the illegal formations was entrusted to the volunteer battalions.

And after the publication of the interim report, it was announced that due to the looting by some fighters, the Shakhtarsk battalion was disbanded. This was rather strange, as it was the only battalion during the entire ATO disbanded for looting. If Dnipro-1 gets away with participation in the murder of an SBU officer during the investigation of a situation related to smuggling, and here – looting… And Avakov announced the disbandment of the Shakhtarsk battalion. As they say in the corridors – the sponsors simply dumped the battalion. Any battalion that is not ready to remain silent about the sponsors’ misdeeds is of no interest to the sponsors. That is how Korban dumped Shakhtarsk…

Currently, Shakhtarsk has become the “Tornado” company. They cleaned up the contingent there; some fighters dispersed to other volunteer battalions, and the rest underwent training. It is led by former deputy commander of Shakhtarsk, Ruslan Onyshchenko. Currently, this unit has a base in Zaporizhzhia.

And the fact that this is a company that, thanks to an order from the president, was reformed and not disbanded – was a great surprise to me at the time. Yes, it was precisely from above that the order came not to disband Shakhtarsk, just as there was an order not to disband Aidar in the past.

Such are the twists of fate, from Korban and Lyashko through Ilovaisk to the “defender of volunteer battalions” Poroshenko... © Serge Marko