One of the Mennonite settlements that came under attack from the Makhnovists was Eichenfeld (), a village of 306 people, not far from the Ukrainian village of Fedorivka. Tensions over land rights between the native Ukrainians and Mennonite settlers had reached a boiling point, with some Ukrainians from neighboring Lukaschowo even attempting to warn the Eichenfelders of an impending premeditated attack by the insurgent forces and sympathetic local peasants.
