Based on a national patriotic myth and released on the second anniversary of the fall of the airport's old terminal, Cyborgs had the highest-grossing opening weekend for a Ukrainian film at that time.

[1] Ukrainian soldiers and volunteers had held the airport for four months since an earlier battle,[2] while surrounded by pro-Russian forces associated with the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR).

[3][a] Although a ceasefire had been agreed to by the Minsk Protocol and confirmed by a memorandum (in effect 5 and 19 September 2014, respectively), minor skirmishes continued with increasing frequency that month.

[10][11][12] Repeated efforts to take the airport's terminals followed, and by the end of October the new terminal building was a charred frame, its upper four floors collapsed, with Ukrainian forces in the lower floors fighting off daily artillery bombardments, infantry attacks, and infiltrators coming through barricaded tunnels.

Pro-Russian fighters who participated in the battle posted on social media about the tireless and almost superhuman enemy they faced, calling them "cyborgs".

[4] The airport had lost much of its strategic value but remained important as a symbol for morale and to divert pro-Russian forces from other battlefronts.

[13][1] The Ukrainian defenders held on until mid-January 2015, when the collapse of several buildings by pro-Russian sappers and a surge of Russian-supplied military vehicles resulted in significant casualties and made continued defence of the ruins impossible.

[14][15][16] Ukrainian soldiers and volunteers transfer to an armoured convoy at Pisky, jeering at a pro-Russian newscrew which falsely reports that Donetsk airport has fallen to DPR forces.

[4] The convoy is attacked by artillery and the fighters bail out of their burning infantry fighting vehicle and take cover in a crater.

Hid finds and disarms an improvised explosive device and they retake the duty-free, inflicting casualties on the separatists who retreat down escalators.

They resupply with the separatists' Russian-supplied ammunition and continue with a visit to the badly damaged air traffic control tower.

Hid reveals a freezer holding the bodies of the first enemy soldiers killed, held for an exchange which the DPR refused.

Staryi explains that he can't make sense of the doublespeak covering Russian aggression, of being dominated by a "brother nation", and that he had to volunteer when his son did.

Mazhor is able to kill a Russian and wound a separatist, steal their car, and race back to the airport terminal under enemy fire.

Mazhor blames Serpen and his entire generation for the state of Ukraine, accusing him of intolerance and disparaging progressive European values.

Mazhor awakens alongside another wounded soldier and is told that the Ukrainians won the battle; that the separatist forces took the terminal but were then pushed back out.

A Ukrainian tank moves into a protected position and exchanges fire; when it is disabled, the squad rescue its crew.

[19] Director Akhtem Seitablayev encountered a great deal of doubt about the project from those who questioned the making of the movie while the conflict was ongoing, feeling that it was "too soon".

[2] Vorozhbyt interviewed many of the airport's defenders[19] and was introduced to fighters in the region by technical consultant Andriy Sharaskin.

[20] Ukrainian cultural scholar Uilleam Blacker – who considers Vorozhbyt and Seitablayev among the best of their professions in Ukraine – notes the use of parapolemic space in Cyborgs, which focus on conversations between the many action scenes.

[20] Art historian Victor Griza (et al.) holds that the goal of Cyborgs is to show the diversity of Ukraine's fighters.

[2] Parts of the movie were shot in the closed Chernihiv Shestovytsia Airport and the Gonchariv military training ground.

initiative, which set aside 5 hryvnias from each ticket purchased for the movie to help the families of those killed in the battle for Donetsk airport.

[19] The film's creators were accused by author Serhii Loiko of plagiarism and copying storylines from his book Airport.

[19] Christopher Miller of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty commented on the movie: "While clearly meant to drum up support for the war effort, Cyborgs isn't entirely propagandistic".