Dmitry Tymchuk: Military update 5.15

Operational data from Information Resistance:

During the last 24 hours, Russian troop terrorist formations shelled the ATO forces positions and civilian objects in the vicinity of Pisky, Krasnohorivka, Mariinka using heavy weapons (120-mm mortars, multiple firings from 122-mm cannon artillery). In the area of  Avdiivka and Lozovoye, militants have used armored vehicles (“roaming” tanks and firing groups on board of infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers).

Near Shyrokyne, Russian-terrorist infantry groups made repeated attempts to engage Ukrainian advanced units with heavy fire from small arms, as well as 82-mm and 120-mm mortars.

In Luhansk oblast, near Hirske, Novotoshkivske, Krymske, and Sokolniki, [pro-Russian] insurgents continue to fire mortars and small arms; we are also observing increased activity of the enemy’s sabotage and reconnaissance groups.

In the vicinity of Vesela Hora and Shchastya, sniper pairs are operating under cover provided by insurgent firing groups (AGS plus heavy machine guns, or units armed with 82-mm or 120-mm mortars).

Also, in the region of Stanytsia Luhanska, terrorists opened fire several times, using AGS-17 automatic grenade launchers and heavy-caliber machine guns.

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Two insurgent tactical groups concentrated in the Petrovskyi and Kirovskyi districts of Donetsk continue receiving renovated and restored military equipment. We have reports of the arrival of 4 refurbished tanks (one T-64, three T-72) and infantry fighting vehicles: three BMP-2 and 1 BMP-1. The equipment is being concentrated mainly in the industrial areas. Terrorist formations in the area of Spartak and in the Kyivskyi District of Donetsk also received reinforcements – 8 MT-LB, 6 BTR-80 and 3 BTR-70.

In the Kyivsky District of Donetsk, we identified camouflaged heavy weapons (“remaining after the parade”): D-30 122-mm howitzers and MSTA-B 152-mm howitzers, a total of 28 units. Some of these weapons are occasionally used for shelling the settlements of Pisky, Avdiivka and Opytne.

A group of Russian servicemen (up to 25 people) arrived into Olenivka from the Petrovskyi District of Donetsk (2 APCs and two Ural trucks). The group’s weapons includes two “Pecheneg” PKP machine guns (officially only used by the military in Russia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan).

Reinforcements continue arriving to the units stationed in the northwestern part of the “Horlivka Garrison” (which are shelling and making occasional attempts to attack Ukrainian positions in the vicinity of Mayorska and Shumy). Over the last 3 days, the following forces have arrived in this area: a composite tank company (seven T-72B3 tanks), two infantry groups (total strength up to 200 personnel), and an artillery-mortar unit (six 120-mm caliber mortars, three 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled artillery guns, and several D-30 howitzers).

An insurgent tactical group of up to 100 personnel, which had earlier incurred heavy losses in clashes with the ATO forces, has been withdrawn from the vicinity of Shyrokyne to the area of Novoazovsk, for resupplying. The tactical group is being resupplied with Russian mercenaries (some 50 personnel), who arrived from Russia and underwent training in the training center in Rostov oblast (Russia).

Over the last 24 hours, we observed increased traffic of insurgent transport vehicles in the northern part of the occupied territory – between Luhansk and Alchevsk, from Alchevsk and Perevalsk towards Stakhanov and Pervomaisk; at nighttime, armored vehicles were seen moving along the Bakhmut highway from Slovyanoserbsk towards Zholobok, as well as between Horlivka, Makiivka, and Yenakijeve. We also observed active movement of military transport around the Donetsk “hub” and to the south of Luhansk (in the direction of Lutuhyne – Krasnyi Luch).

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In Luhansk, local “bodies of the LNR [Luhansk People’s Republic] Ministry of State Security” are searching for a group of “phone terrorists” consisting of pro-Ukrainian local residents. Specifically, unknown people have been purposefully trolling and mocking the “LNR state authorities” for a long time already, using publicly available telephone numbers (information desks, official duty numbers, etc.)

In the territory controlled by the “LNR” and “DNR” [Donetsk People’s Republic], the “state authorities” of the terrorist organizations are widely using the tax and notary databases for illicit activities – specifically, concerning the property of people who were forced to relocate to other regions of Ukraine or abroad. The newly-sprung “officials” are actively selling information about the property of people who present an interest to insurgents and other criminals.

According to the statements of the “government” representatives of the “DNR” and “LNR,” the problems with food supply to the occupied regions are being “gradually resolved.” The “humanitarian convoys” of Rinat Akhmetov play a significant part in the “improvement of the situation.”

In settlements controlled by the “LNR” and “DNR,” members of the local criminal world are increasingly often attacking Russian mercenaries and servicemen who receive considerable money rewards for their participation in combat in Donbas. In Luhansk, a Russian mercenary was victim of an armed assault and robbery (receiving multiple stab wounds). Local “law enforcers” are also investigating an assault and robbery of a Russian officer, who was attacked by unknown persons who beat him and took his “two months’ wages.”

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Dmitry Tymchuk

Reserve officer, director of the NGO Center for Military and Political Research, Coordinator of “Information Resistance” (hereinafter “IR”) – a non-governmental project that aims to counteract external threats to the informational space of Ukraine in the main areas of military, economic, and energy, as well as the sphere of informational security.

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