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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Guys, its the start of the month so its time to pay the electricity debt bills again, while im out of dry dog food and, well, human food too, and I dont want to end up choosing between having the lights on and having me and mine eat things. If you want to help: PayPal - nikitabel229@proton.me BMAC⬇️

buymeacoffee.com

Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014

History of Ukraine, the Donbas and the War

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

A part of the force did continue onwards to the pontoon bridge south of Dmytrivka, which was the only bridge through which everything that was heading for the border operation and back would pass. Needless to say, after two months of fighting, the place wasn't a pretty sight:

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

September 2014 A paratrooper of the 25th Airborne Brigade atop a BMD. Outskirts of Yenakiieve, Debaltseve Salient

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

7th of October, 2014 Fighter of the Kharkiv-1 "Slobozhanschyna" Special Patrol Milice Battalion working in a securing public order capacity and guarding a "Kharkiv is Ukraine" rally

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

September 2014, Zhytomyr Veterans of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan undergoing refresher training after being mobilized into the 95th Airmobile Brigade during the Third Wave of the Limited Mobilization™

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Andrew Chakhoyan 🇺🇦 @andrewchak.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

There is no “conflict” to resolve, no misunderstanding, no magical win-win formula russia’s war persists because russia keeps waging it Reagan's doctrine of strength worked. Attempts to sacrifice 🇺🇦 on the altar of peace-through-weakness had the opposite effect kyivindependent.com/washington-a...

kyivindependent.com

Washington attempts dealmaking, Moscow sticks with warmaking

"I can't die now. I still need to do the Russia sanctions," Lindsey Graham joked hours before his passing. Nine weeks later, the bill bearing his name became law with the U.S. president's signature. ...

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

June 2014 "Back then our enemy was the regime, and they were just following orders. But now we have a common enemy, and follow common orders." Two National Guardsmen, formerly of the Maidan Self-Defence, talk about how they transitioned from anti-government to government forces.

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

ATO Rock'n'Roll Serhii Kononenko (2018) Subtitles\translation and video by yours truly (ATO: Anti-Terrorist Operation, the official designation for fighting in eastern Ukraine from 2014 to 2017) www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Y5I...

youtube.com

Serhii Kononenko - ATO Rock'n'Roll (2018)

YouTube video by Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

December 2014 Drawings on the helmets of fighters from the 128th Mountain Assault Brigade

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

August 2014 South Donetsk Oblast A Ukrainian soldier having what appears to be a (relatively) nice morning atop Savur-Mohyla.

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Winter season 2014-2015 Reconnaissance soldiers of the Odesite 28th Mechanized Brigade demonstrate a captured enemy flag.

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Folks, having a bit of a medical emergency. My mother twisted her leg, need to get her a cane and a bunch of other stuff, lacking something like 50-100 dollars. If you could help with any amount really it'd be very appreciated (posting paypal because its faster): PayPal: nikitabel229@proton.me

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Interior Troops officer (now National Guardsman) instructs Maidan Self-Defence activists. 500 Self-Defence fighters were recruited by the Ministry of Interior to form the 1 Reserve Battalion of the National Guard. These recruits now served side by side with the riot police they fought weeks earlier.

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

April 2014 Three Battalion Tactical Groups of the ill-fated 51st Mechanized Brigade at a camp in Rivne, preparing for a possible deployment as security situation in the east deteriorates. Majority of the unit was made up of mobilized civilian reservists called up only weeks earlier.

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Soldiers of the 1st BTG of the 93rd Mechanized Brigade having a picnic. Luhansk Oblast, April 2014

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

NEW | What’s often missed in discussions of the Maidan is the dynamism of how, over time, small groups of self-defense groups grew into a 10,000 strong force that toppled the Yanukovych regime, before volunteering to fight the Russian invaders. Read more on Casus Belli⬇️ substack.com/pub/donbaspo...

open.substack.com

The Maidan Self-Defence Forces

The Maidan Self-Defence, or the Samooborona, started as a grassroots movement on December 1st, 2014.

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Also today is my birthday so uh support Casus Belli more than ever!

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Please consider supporting the project! I aim to post various tidbits, photos and videos daily, a mid-length article once a week, and a footage-based documentary every two weeks or so. I refuse to hide my content behind paywalls, but I am essentially impoverished. buymeacoffee.com/desiderius

buymeacoffee.com

Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014

History of Ukraine, the Donbas and the War

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Soldiers of the 24th "Aidar" Territorial Defence Battalion during the Battle of Luhansk (June-September 2014)

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Next time you see someone go on about Ukraine bombing Donbas, send them this video of militants in Donetsk firing artillery directly at a residential building in Avdiivka. These aren't all the strikes, the original video is 8 minutes long... Date unclear, July - September (?) 2014

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Maj. Oleksandr Bahniuk, deputy battalion commander in the 72nd Mechanized Brigade. KIA: 12th Sept. 2014, one week into the Minsk "ceasefire", during an artillery and armored attack by Russian forces on the battalion command post in the Starobesheve direction.

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Vadym Naumov, from the 1st Operational Brigade of the NGU. During the Maidan, he was serving in the "Bars" unit of the Interior Forces and stood among the police shieldwalls. After the revolution, "Bars" became the 1st Op. Brigade & was later deployed to ATO. KIA 1st Sept. 2014, 24 years old.

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Early September 2014, Novoazovsk During the invasion, Russian troops acted in Battalion Tactical Groups together with paramilitary forces trained trained over the summer. After Minsk I, any real distinction between the militants and the Russian military practically disappeared.

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Early September 2014 The invading troops from the Russian Armed Forces, with the characteristic white circles on their vehicles, advancing in southern Donetsk Oblast.

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Callsign Syoma - The Airport (I'll post a full translation someday, support Casus Belli)

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Callsign Syoma - The Airport (I'll post a full translation someday, support Casus Belli)

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

I understand where you're coming from but underestimating your enemy (and their weapon systems etc etc) is pure strategic poison of the worst kind, Russia's invasion(s) since 2014 are a perfect example.

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

It is sort of dismaying how the prevailing assumption is always "this russian system really fucking sucks" and not "those ukrainians really fucking rock"

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

NEW | In this article I explore the forgotten but important and interesting moment from the summer and autumn of 2014. The Russian army came so close to capturing Mariupol that it's residents volunteered to dig trenches and build bunkers. donbasposting.substack.com/p/how-mariup...

donbasposting.substack.com

How Mariupol Almost Fell in August 2014

The forgotten story of how the residents of Mariupol and Ukrainian defenders saved their hometown from the Russian army.

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Recent work I've been doing hasn't been bringing in much in terms of donations, so I'll have to ask - if you find my work valuable, please consider donating to support Casus Belli. Right now I am having trouble with electricity bills, and any cent will help! buymeacoffee.com/desiderius

buymeacoffee.com

Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014

History of Ukraine, the Donbas and the War

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

NEW | In a new Casus Belli mini-documentary, I will help guide you through unique footage of the first engagement in the historic Battle of Ilovaisk. www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5f2...

youtube.com

BATTLE OF ILOVAISK BEGINS | 7th of August, 2014 | Footage-based Documentary

YouTube video by Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Heorhii "Hunter" Toropovskyi Murdered at 17 while returning to the front. Joined the Kryvbas Battalion as a volunteer in July 2014, hiding his true age. Fought in reconnaissance. Survived the breakout from Ilovaisk, where his battalion suffered immense losses.

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Junior Lt. Roman "Shaman" Nabiehov (right) with his comrades from the "Myrotvorets" Battalion. KIA during the breakout from Ilovaisk on 29th Aug., 2014. His unit got cut off in the village of Horbatenko. On 19:43 he wrote his likely last words on his social media: "NO STEP BACK!"

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Ukrainian troops, mostly from the 25th Airborne Brigade, took the strategic memorial site at the hill of Savur-Mohyla (277m) on 5th August after a week of brutal assaults. Now they had to defend it against attacks, from all sides, under shell-fire. Humor becomes a necessity. 17th of August, 2014

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

If you find my work valuable, please consider donating to help Casus Belli grow and release better content more often. You can buy a monthly membership to further support me and receive regular updates on what I am working on, see my many, many WIPs, and more. buymeacoffee.com/desiderius

buymeacoffee.com

Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014

History of Ukraine, the Donbas and the War

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

"Its the end of July 2014. We're all in a great mood, liberating city after city, everyone can't help but think that it's... it's only a bit left until all of this is over. All this fucking surrealism. War that started where you least expected it. Not beyond the ocean, but home."

2nd "Donbas" Special Purpose Battalion of the NGU at their base in Artemivsk (Bakhmut), July 2014

A unit of the 25th Airborne Brigade after the taking of strategic high ground at Savur-Mohyla. 5th of August, 2014

Fighters of the 24th "Aidar" Territorial Defence Battalion. July-August 2014

Soldiers of the 72nd Mechanized Brigade. August 2014

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

50 year old Maj. Oleksandr Humeniuk (center, sitting down, moustached), commander of the 11th Territorial Defence Battalion "Kyivan Rus", on the 12th of August 2014. Three days later, he was killed in an ambush while personally leading a recon mission into enemy territory near Debaltseve.

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

"Aidar" Territorial Defence Battalion fighters goofing around. The man in the center, Ihor Filipchiuk, will be killed some weeks later on 14th of August, 2014 during the Battle of Luhansk.

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

While 30th Mechanized establishes defensive positions in Miusinsk and on the road south, the 95th Airmobile Brigade heads for it's famous raid into enemy territory. It's actions help cover the retreat of surrounded Ukrainian troops, which begins on the 5th.

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Ukrainian troops from the 30th Mechanized Brigade in the town of Miusinsk, Donetsk Oblast. Capturing Miusinsk was crucial to allow the forces surrounded on the border (Sector D) to retreat. 9th of August, 2014

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Russo-Ukrainian War 1st of August, 2014 Ukrainian troops are advancing in multiple directions; 25th, 30th, and 95th Brigades bypass Shakhtarsk and move south of Snizhne to evacuate UA troops surrounded on the border. Recon teams enter western Donetsk. Luhansk is almost cut off.

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Soldiers of the 30th Mechanized Brigade hosting a dinner for the aid delivery volunteer Iulia Tolmachenko. Outskirts of Savur-Mohyla, 14th of August 2014

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

11th of August, 2014 Stepanivka, Donetsk Oblast The strategic village of Stepanivka, located just near the summit of Savur Mohyla (277m), was a site of heavy fighting since late July. These photos show the village after heavy Russian bombardment the night prior, 10th of August.

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

"Now we're here to stay." This is a rare recording from late August of 2014 that depicts one of the invading Russian regular army units, perhaps mixed with local militants, taking a break from action. Location is Peremozhne, a village just south of Luhansk Airport.

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Igor Girkin's DNR militants, to be specific the squad commanded by then-unknown Arsen "Motorola" Pavlov, praying before a chair as part of a... ritual? Spring-Summer 2014

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Casus Belli: Ukraine 2014 | 🔱⚒️🌅 @doctoradmiral.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

𝟱𝘁𝗵 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝘂𝗴𝘂𝘀𝘁, 𝟮𝟬𝟭𝟰 Hill 277 - “Savur-Mohyla” Units of the 25th Airborne Brigade, supported by smaller elements from other brigades, fight their way to the top of the strategically important memorial site atop Savur-Mohyla (277m) after a brutal 5-day slog.

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