More Proof Of Russian Involvement In Ukraine

A document published by the Ukrainian Security Service back on June 16th claims that there are 15 Russian Battalion Tactical Groups (BTGs) active in eastern Ukraine, and that the rebel forces are led by five Russian generals and a colonel present in Ukrainian borders. If true, this certainly corroborates past reports of Russian action in eastern Ukraine. However, the document goes even further by naming the Russian military officers and intelligence agents responsible.

The military officers named include Major-General Oleg Mussovich Tsekov, currently the commander of two brigades of the Luhansk People’s Militia, Major-General Valeriy Nikolaevich Solodchuk, the commander of Donetsk’s 1st Army Corps, Major-General Sergey Yurievich Kuzovlev, the coordinator of Russian military in eastern Ukraine along with Major-General Aleksey Vladimirovich Zavizion, Major-General Roman Aleksandrovich Shadrin, deputy minister of state security of the Luhansk People’s Republic, and Colonel Anatoliy Konstantinovich Barankevich, adviser for combat readiness in Luhansk. Colonel Barankevich was formerly the minister of defense for South Ossetia, the Georgian province that attempted to break away from Georgia back in 1991 and was the impetus for the 2008 war between Russia and Georgia. If such high ranking Russian officers are present in Ukraine then it signals that Russia is extending more permanent military control over the separatist provinces in eastern Ukraine.

The document also provides photo evidence of Russian weapons being supplied to separatist forces as well as being used by Russian soldiers, and accuses Russia of carrying out terrorist attacks on civilians by means of GRU agents and Russian intelligence trained guerrilla operatives.  A map is provided in the document claiming locations of 108 listed GRU and FSB run terrorist training camps within Russia, Abkhazia, Moldova, and separatist-held Ukraine. Exact locations of the camps in Donetsk, Luhansk, and Crimea are given in additional maps provided in the document.

All this comes at a time when footage taken by a Ukranian drone shows the construction of a Russian forward operating base just south of the village of Sontsevo in Donetsk, whilst attacks on the front-lines at Granitnoye increase in frequency. This FOB is only 12 kilometers away from the Ukrainian front lines at Granitnoye and Novolaspa, and would play a major role in any offense on the strategic port city of Mariupol. The base is next to the highway linking Mariupol to the loyalist north and could cut off reinforcements heading to relieve loyalist troops in the city. With Crimea in Russian hands, Ukrainian reinforcements to Mariupol via the sea are unlikely. With the recent buildup of new bases in Donetsk and the ever increasing attacks on the Ukrainian loyalist positions in the area, a new Russian/separatist offensive seems increasingly likely.