East (brigade)

According to an interview with Denis Pushilin, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the DPR, to the newspaper The Washington Post , the battalion was formed from local militias and has nothing to do with the Chechen unit of the same name ^{[5] [6]} .

According to Ukrainian media reports, the battalion was staffed by former members of the Ukrainian special services ( Alpha , Berkut ), as well as Russian volunteers ^{[7] [8] [9]} .

On May 9, 2014, armed people appeared in Donetsk, who were moving in two blue KamAZ trucks with a red inscription “ Vostok battalion ” ^[10] . On May 20, it was reported that a motorcade of equipment with inscriptions in Russian “Battalion Vostok” was moving from Donetsk from the PAZ and BTR bus ^[11] .

Until July 9, together with the Oplot battalion, controlled Donetsk, Snezhnoye and Shakhtyorsk ^[12] , and until August 9, Saur-Mogila ^[13] .

On July 9, Khodakovsky came into conflict with Strelkov and with a part of the battalion occupied the building of the Makeevugol Trust in Makeevka , another part of the battalion became subordinate to Strelkov ^[14] .

• May 16 - 30 fighters of the Vostok battalion captured part of the National Guard of Ukraine in Donetsk ^[15] .

• May 23 - participation in the battle against the Donbass battalion in the village of Karlovka ^[16] .

• May 26 - the combined detachment of Russian volunteers, transferred to the subordination of Alexander Khodakovsky, made an unsuccessful attempt to capture the international airport "Donetsk" . Breaking back to Donetsk in two KamAZ trucks , the squad was mistakenly shot at and as a result suffered huge losses ^{[17] [18] [19]}

• May 29 - fighters of the Vostok battalion surrounded the building of the Donetsk Regional State Administration and entered inside ^{[20] [21]} . Civilians are encouraged to move away from the building of the RSA. On the same day, representatives of the Vostok battalion detained 12 people suspected of looting in Donetsk ^[22] .

• June 5 - battalion fighters attacked the Marinovka border checkpoint ^[23] . With the help of aviation, the Ukrainian security forces managed to repel the attack ^[24] . Part of the fighters of the "East" was forced to retreat to the territory of Russia, where it was disarmed by Russian border guards ^[25] . During the battle, the battalion lost: Ural and KamAZ trucks (at least one of them with the Utes machine gun) ^[26] . 13 militias were injured and 1 was killed ^[27] . According to the Ukrainian side, more than 5 border guards were injured ^[28] .

• July 10 - the battalion conducted reconnaissance in battle in the vicinity of Donetsk Airport ^[29] .
• August 17 - the battalion enters Yasinovataya, Donetsk region ^[30] .
• September 19 —- fighting for Panteleymonovka Donetsk region ^[31] .

The battalion chevron is a shield with vertical stripes of flowers of the St. George ribbon (three black and two orange). In the middle is a white circle with the image of the golden (yellow) George the Victorious (the horseman piercing the serpent with a spear). Above the circle with George the Victorious is the inscription “BATTALION” in black letters with a white outline, below the circle the same inscription “EAST”.

• People's militia of Donbass