In the aftermath of Euromaidan, from March to May 2014, pro-Russian unrest occurred in many cities of the eastern, central, and southern regions Ukraine.

[1] The protests, known as the "Russian Spring" in Russia, took place under Russian flags and with pro-Russian slogans, and put forward a wide range of demands in reaction to the pro-European outlook of the new Ukrainian government – from the federalization of Ukraine to calls for the division of the territory of Ukraine and for annexation by Russia, in a similar fashion to that of Crimea.

[4] On 13 April 2014, the Ukrainian authorities launched an "anti-terrorist operation" to restore control over the Donetsk region and the city of Artemivsk in particular.

[5][failed verification] Ukrainian authorities organised the removal of weapons from military warehouses in early March 2014 to prevent armed conflict in the area.

[8] On 19 April, the forces of the 3rd Special Purpose Regiment reinforced the garrison of the small arms storage arsenal in the village of Paraskoviivka.

The deputy commander of the group of the 3rd regiment with the call sign, Merzavchik, was the first to orientate himself – the militants' car was shot by machine guns.

For this, it was necessary to seize a separatist checkpoint at the entrance to the city and hold it for around 3 hours to allow another group to evacuate a wounded man by helicopter.

During the battle, the commander of the unit, Oleksandr Trepak, received a gunshot wound to the leg, but he refused to evacuate and for two days led the repulse of the militants' attacks on the Central Artillery Armament Base.

After this incident, the Ukrainian military decided to step up and "reanimated" one T-64 and one BMP-2 from those in storage (a total of 260 T-64, T-80 and T-72 tanks, 270 armored personnel carriers, 227 BMPs, 129 BRM-1K).

For his successful performance of the combat task, Alexander Trepak received the rank of Colonel, Order of Bogdan Khmelnytsky III.