and separatist militia forces. Around the same time on May, separatist troops captured the terminal buildings of Donetsk International Airport, the National Guard circled the separatist forces, issuing an ultimatum demanding the surrender of the separatists — which was denied — and the paratroopers launched an assault on the airport. The incident became known as the First Battle of Donetsk Airport. On the same month, National Guard Major General Serhiy Kulchytsky was killed during the Siege of Sloviansk, when his helicopter was shot down by separatists. On early June, a Border Guard base and a National Guard were besieged in Luhansk and after 10 hours of battle the base fell after the guardsmen ran out of ammunition. On October 13, several National Guards troops protested outside the Ukrainian presidential administration building in Kyiv, they demanded the end of conscription, and their own demobilisation. According to Kyiv Post, many of the protesters were former Internal Troops who had clashed with Euromaidan protesters, and that they were not in favour of that movement or the new government. Three National Guardsmen died in a riot on 31 August 2015 at the Verkhovna Rada when a policeman on leave threw a grenade outside the facade. According to official figures, by mid-April 2016, the Interior Ministry and the National Guard have lost 308 personnel since the war in Donbas broke out, including 108 from the National Guard's volunteer battalions. Russo-Ukrainian War Beginning Thursday, 24 February 2022, the day the Russian Armed Forces invaded Ukraine, the NGU has been active in many of the land battles fought by Ukrainian forces during the current war. In the first day of the war, the Russian Airborne Forces (VDV) attempted an air assault on the Antonov Airport in Hostomel, northwest Kyiv, in order to do an air lift and bring more troops and heavier equipment to the capital in a military engagement that became known as the Battle of Antonov Airport. In the initial phases of the assault, the VDV expelled a small garrison of the National Guard and took control of the airport. However, the 4th Rapid Reaction Brigade of the Ukrainian National Guard swiftly reacted by launching an extensive counter-attack, using armored vehicles and artillery, that encircling the unsupported Russian troops and repelled the attack. The airport was captured by a renewed Russian offensive the next day, but the airport was rendered unusable by battle damage. The