In August 2014, Ilovaysk did not have strategic importance for the Armed Forces of Ukraine and was “one of the tactical tasks,” which was solved during a large-scale operation on the front line, Ukrainska Pravda reports.
This was stated by the head of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Viktor Muzhenko in an interview for a documentary about the events near Ilovaysk in 2014. According to Muzhenko, in July Ilovaysk “still had some interest for us as a large nodal station and it was considered in our plans as one of the tactical episodes, tactical tasks that were solved throughout the operation.”
“The operation was widespread, more than 400 km from the front. Ilovajsk, as a town … did not have any strategic significance for us, especially in the months of August when we controlled Kuteinikove … There was no need to make Ilovajsk as a strategic center, which was necessary to capture”, – noted the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. According to the Chief Military Prosecutor’s Office, only on August 29, 2014, 366 Ukrainian soldiers died in Ilovaysk, 429 were injured in various degrees of severity, and another 300 were captured.
