On 1 December 1994, the Russians began bombing Grozny airport and destroyed some former soviet training aircraft taken away by the republic in 1991. In response Ichkeria declared war on Russia and mobilised its armed forces. On 11 December 1994, five days after Dudayev and Minister of Defense Pavel Grachev of Russia had agreed to avoid the further use of force, Russian troops invaded Chechnya. It was mistakenly reported that one of Dudayev's two sons was killed in action early in the war; both of them are alive as of 2009.