[5] Although Dudayev left Grozny early in the battle,[6] the massive concrete structure of his presidential palace turned into the main Chechen stronghold in the city.

The basement under the palace became the battle headquarters of Aslan Maskhadov, the Chechen chief of staff, shared with a field hospital and an improvised prisoner-of-war camp for captured Russian soldiers.

Sergei Kovalev (Boris Yeltsin's human rights commissioner), six other State Duma deputies, as well as several journalists and aid workers (including Viktor Popkov) were also trapped in the bunker for days following the initial Russian attack.

[7][8] The Russian forces shelled the building for nearly three weeks, scoring hundreds of direct artillery hits, including with mortars, point-blank tank fire and a particularly devastating salvo of BM-21 rockets.

[12] After midnight on January 18, the ruined building was abandoned by the last defenders, who crossed a bridge to the other side of the river under cover of darkness, and was finally seized by the Russians the next day.