This statement is largely accurate in its description of events. Following the February 2014 Maidan outcome (ousting of President Viktor Yanukovych), significant portions of locals in Donetsk opposed the new Kyiv government. This anti-Maidan movement was accompanied by pro-Russian protests, which were subsequently supported by Russian forces and organized separatists. The Donetsk International Airport became the site of two major battles. The first was in May 2014, when pro-Russian forces seized it and were subsequently ousted by the Ukrainian military. There was even a second battle that began in September 2014, when pro-Russian militias (DPR forces), supported by Russian regulars, heavily attacked the airport to retake it from Ukrainian forces who had held it since May. The battle for the airport, which lasted until January 2015, saw it used as a strategic base, with artillery often fired from both sides (including from residential areas near the airport) in the surrounding conflict.
https://www.cnn.com/2014/05/27/world/europe/ukraine-crisis
