Dmitry Tymchuk, Head of the Center for Military and Political Research, Coordinator of the Information Resistance group, Member of Parliament (People’s Front)
10.13.2015
Translated and edited by Voices of Ukraine
Photograph by Noah Brooks, used with permission

Operational data from Information Resistance:

During the past few days, Russian-terrorist forces in Donbas have continued their activity to provoke Ukrainian troops into an en masse use of weapons. In order to keep a video record of the outcome of these provocations, the so-called “Ministry of State Security of the Donetsk People’s Republic [DNR]” has set up a temporary unit, with whom a group of 20 Russian media representatives newly arrived in Donetsk is coordinating. The Russian journalists are not only tasked with “recording the shelling of civilians by the Ukrainian military,” but are also “consulted” on how to stage provocations. One of their main objectives is to have instances of ATO forces opening fire logged by officials of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Special Monitoring Mission [OSCE SMM]. The provocations are consequently synchronised with the inspection visit schedule of the OSCE patrols.

The “cast of actors” is drawn from of a number of militant “sub-formations” in the following areas:
• Starohnativka – Hranitne
• Pisky – Opytne – Donetsk International Airport [DAP]
• Luhanske – Myronivske – Troitske – Popasna
•  northern districts of Horlivka

Typically, the provocations are presented as “random” firing (shots “in the direction” of Ukrainian positions from small automatic weapons and heavy machine guns). In addition, over the past several days, terrorists have been detonating 82-mm mortar shells in the neutral zone in the above areas. Several militant infantry groups have also been observed in the “greenery,” trying to identify the movement of Ukrainian troops at the front line.

An isolated case of militants using a “Kopye” [Spear] SPG-9 tripod-mounted anti-tank grenade launcher was recorded north-west of the Donetsk Airport. Small-arms fire is almost a regular occurrence south of Donetsk (Starohnativka and Hranitne, Novotroitske), as well as in Shumy, Mayorsk, Zaitseve, Luhanske, Troitske, Orikhove, and Mar’inka; it is less frequent between Pavlopil and Chermalyk, in Shyrokyne, Shchastya, Syze, Novotoshkivka, and Krymske. The fire is unaimed, in keeping with the terrorists’ deliberate attempts to provoke the ATO forces into returning fire.

War-torn Shyrokyne. Photograph by Noah Brooks

Source: Dmitry Tymchuk FB

This translation work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. The rights pertaining to the original work remain unaffected.