The helicopter gunship had been destroyed inside the supposedly secure Kramatorsk airport, a major coup for the separatist militants in the bitter conflict which was to dismember Ukraine, and threatens now to erupt again with devastating consequences.
In the aftermath of the attack on that day eight years ago, Colonel Yulia Laputina organised defences at the base with a bare handful of soldiers and air personnel, as a hostile mob blocked the entrance and warnings came that a large group of enemy fighters were on their way.
