Pisky, Yasynuvata Raion


Pisky is a village in Yasynuvata Raion in Donetsk Oblast of eastern Ukraine, at about 10 km NW from the center of Donetsk city and at about 2 km from the western border of Donetsk airfield. The village is a former wealthy suburb of Donetsk.
In the War in Donbass the village switched hands many times. Since 21 July 2014 the city is under control of the Ukrainian army. According to an eye witness the Dnipro Battalion captured the settlement that day on its own initiative. Commander of Dnipro Battalion's squadron 5 Volodymyr Shylov claims they then ignored orders to leave Pisky. Since then the village comes under daily attack from the separatists.
Pisky was one of the hotspots of the Second Battle of Donetsk Airport, from September 2014 to January 2015.
The conflict brought along both civilian and military casualties to the village that had a population of 2,000 before the War in Donbass. In June 2015 only a dozen of the poorest civilians continued to live in Pisky, many of them shell-shocked and carrying injuries. By then, the village lay in ruins. On 27 August 2015 the village counted six residents – according to observers of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine. BBC News correspondent Fergal Keane reported on 8 February 2016 that 18 people lived in Pisky.

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