The First Chechen War began on 11 December 1994, with the Russian military launching an assault on Grozny, capital of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. Despite early diplomatic support from the United States and the European Union, Russia's position was undermined by war crimes committed in Chechnya, and both governmental and popular attitudes gradually shifted against Russia. Chechnya also found extensive popular support in the Muslim world and the former Eastern Bloc, and people from both regions on some occasions served alongside or in the Armed Forces of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.