Day of Remembrance of the Defenders of Ukraine Date in the current year: August 29, 2024

For a number of years, the Day of Remembrance of the Defenders of Ukraine was observed unofficially as Memorial Day for the Fallen ATO Fighters. It was dedicated to the people who died in the armed conflict in the Donbass region of Ukraine, which is commonly referred to as the War in Donbass in the West and as the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) or the Joint Forces Operation in Ukraine.

The date of August 29 was chosen to commemorate the culmination of the battle of Ilovaisk, also known as the Ilovaisk Tragedy or the Ilovaisk Trap. On August 10, 2014, the Armed Forces of Ukraine began their first attempts to capture the city of Ilovaisk from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic. By August 28, they had suffered severe losses and found themselves encircled. On August 29, the government of Ukraine reached an agreement with the representatives of the DPR and Russian president Vladimir Putin, and surviving Ukrainian soldiers left Ilovaisk through a humanitarian corridor.

The Ukrainian government described the battle of Ilovaisk as a “massacre” because, according to the Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian parliament), at least 1,000 soldiers were killed in the battle. To honor their memory, family members of the fallen soldiers began to observe August 29 as Memorial Day for the Fallen ATO Fighters.

In 2019, the newly elected President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree that officially declared August 29 the Day of Remembrance of the Defenders of Ukraine. According to the decree, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine is responsible for planning remembrance events that are to be organized by the oblast (regional) state administrations and Kyiv City State Administration. In addition, special events are held at Ukrainian diplomatic institutions abroad by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.