It was originally a tumulus (kurgan) – mohyla means "tumulus" in Ukrainian and according to one interpretation the word savur comes from Turkic sauyr, meaning "steppe mound shaped like a horse bottom".^{[citation needed]} Rosamund Bartlett writes, "Many popular legends had been spun about this particular kurgan, which had acted as a kind of frontier between the Russians and the Turks and Tatars in the mediaeval period; Saur appears in them either as an evil Turkish khan or a Cossack hero."^[1]

During World War II, Savur-Mohyla was the focal point of intense fighting, when Soviet troops managed to retake control of the height from German forces in August 1943. In 1963, a memorial complex was unveiled at the top of the hill to honour fallen soldiers,^[2] comprising an obelisk with a steel-and-concrete statue of a Soviet soldier, four steel-and-concrete sculptures built along the slope leading up to the obelisk (each memorializing infantrymen, tankmen, artillerymen and airmen involved in the battle), and walls inscrcribed with the names of fallen soldiers in the battle.

In 2014, during the first months of the military conflict between Ukrainian troops and Ukrainian Russian backed "Donetsk People's Republic" (DPR) militants in the Donbas, the Savur-Mohyla height was captured by Donetsk People's Republic fighters. On 23 July 2014, DPR forces shot down two Ukrainian Air Force Sukhoi Su-25 (NATO reporting name "Frogfoot") ground-attack aircraft flying at 17,000 feet (5,200 meters) over Savur-Mohyla, using an advanced anti-aircraft system.^[3][4]

On 28 July 2014, after intense fighting, the Armed Forces of Ukraine claimed that they recaptured control of Savur-Mohyla from Russian troops.^[5] Following its capture by the Ukrainian 25th Airborne Brigade on 9 August 2014,^[6] the Russian militants recaptured the hill on 26 August 2014.^[7][8] During the fighting, the hill changed sides between the Ukraine and Russia about 8 times.

Destruction of the memorial edit

On 21 August 2014, the memorial's obelisk collapsed after enduring weeks of heavy shelling.^[7][9]

Reconstruction edit

On 4 September 2022, Russian militants announced completion of restoration works on the complex with official reopening to occur on 8 September.

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  Red Army soldiers near Saur-Mogila during World War 2
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  Monument to Soviet infantrymen in World War 2
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  Monument to Soviet tankmen in World War 2
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  Monument to Soviet pilots in World War 2
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  Soviet soldier statue next to the former obelisk
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  Ukrainian soldiers near the memorial before the Battle of Shakhtarsk Raion in June 2014
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  Ukrainian soldiers fire multiple 2S5 Giatsint-S at Russian positions at Saur-Mogila, July 2014
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  Ukrainian soldiers bombing Russian positions in Saur-Mogila, July 2014
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  Ukrainian BM-21 rockets exploding at Saur-Mogila, July 2014
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  Large memorial to World War 2 Soviet soldiers in August 2015
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  Close-up of the memorial
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  Another view of the memorial
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  Saur-Mogila in 2015 with notable damage a year after the war in Donbas battle
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  HD view of the path and visitors
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  Aftermath of the monument to Soviet infantrymen
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  Aftermath of the monument to Soviet tankmen
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  Aftermath of the monument to Soviet artillerymen
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  Aftermath of the monument to Soviet pilots
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  Soviet pilot statue collapsed in front of rubble
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  More pilot statues amongst the rubble
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  A memorial considerably damaged after the battle
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  Path to the destroyed obelisk
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  Outside view of the former obelisk
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  Rubble inside of the former obelisk
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  View of the area in front of Saur-Mogila

47°55′22.75″N 38°44′25.94″E / 47.9229861°N 38.7405389°E / 47.9229861; 38.7405389