Our investigation found information and photos, confirming the presence of another Russian unit in Ukraine. That is a drones company of the 19th motorized brigade (military unit No. 20634, Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia-Alania), which is a part of the 58th combined army of the Southern military command of the Russian army.
OSINT-reconnaissance in the area of the settlement of Svobodny in the Kuibyshev district, Rostov Oblast, Russia, bordering with Ukraine, resulted into recognition of the Russian units. Through examining of VK profiles of soldiers who are serving under contract: Ales Dzhumargaliev and Ruslan Galimov, this unit was identified as drones company of the 19th motorized rifle brigade from Vladikavkaz.
VK photo galleries of these servicemen have pictures with a geographical location on the territory of Ukraine, namely: Amvrosyyivskyi Raion of Donetsk Oblast. Not only the personal information of the servicemen, but also pictures themselves confirm that this group of people is a part of a drone company. Pictures show KAMAZ truck with special modules and a few black plastic boxes.
These boxes are signature evidence of the Russian dones. Compare them with boxes and other equipment on this video, shot in 2014 by Russian Mir TV company.
By the way, this video shows public flight practice of the same drone unit from Vladikavkaz. After checking friend contacts of mentioned servicemen, we have also found their colleagues from the same company. A person named Nikolay Dmitrievich Belokobylenko happened to be the most curious and open to public, since he has 3 different VK profiles: https://vk.com/id146791893, https://vk.com/id279602335, https://vk.com/id161164012.
It is enough to examine only one profile of Nikolay Belokobylenko in order to know about his whole career path: from compulsory military service in the 141st separate tank brigade (military unit No.64514, Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, Vladikavkaz) in 2008—2009 to the present contract service in the 19th separate motorized rifle battalion (military unit No. 20634, Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, Vladikavkaz).
The fact that Belokolybenko has been serving in drones company since 2009 is confirmed by a picture taken in Kolomna (a town near Moscow), where he was trained in a Training center for specialists of drone aircraft complexes (military unit No. 20924). Moreover, Nikolay Belokolybenko is a Youtube star, he took part in a mentioned video by Mir TV, shot in Vladikavkaz in 2014 and featuring Russian reconnaissance drone Orlan-10. In it Nikolay was called a senior crew controller (see 1:45).
Over the last year Nikolay Belokobylenko numerously visited Donbas during his missions. This is confirmed by pictures from Donbas Arena Stadium and Tsar cannon (known to all Donetsk residents) on the background.
Drone operators from 19th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade are usually present on pictures together with artillerists from the same brigade. This brings us to conclusion that their main task is to conduct reconnaissance of Ukrainian positions and objects of military significance to supply this information to their artillery. 19th Motorized Rifle Brigade is armed with self-propelled howitzers 2S19 Msta-S and 9К51М Tornado-G modernized multiple rocket launchers (modernized BM-21 Grad), which have modern guidance and control units and have longer destruction range comparing to their predecessors.
Original article by Irakli Komakhidze and Krmvictory, translated by Maksym Sviezhentsev, edited by Gennadiy Kornev
Read the latest book “Donbas in Flames. Guide to the Conflict Zone” published by Prometheus Center. This guide will be useful to journalists, researchers, war experts, diplomats and general readers seeking information on the war in Donbas.
12 Responses to “‘Drone Company’ of Russian 19th Motorized Rifle Brigade. A story of their Ukrainian ‘trip’”
05/25/2015
Russian Drone Shower over the Fields of Donbas - InformNapalm.org (English)[…] no skills to use such sophisticated military equipment. Earlier this May InformNapalm published OSINT investigation, exposing VK profiles of the contract servicemen for the so-called ‘Drones com… (military unit No. 20634, based in Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia-Alania), which is a part of the 58th […]
07/27/2015
The Snipers of the 19th Brigade in the Ranks of 'Somali' Armed Formation - InformNapalm.org (English)[…] We discovered a UAV sub-unit of the 19th motorized rifle brigade (military unit No. 20634, Vladikavkaz, Republic of North Ossetia, Russia) in the beginning of May, 2015. The servicemen of this unit were posing in photos made in Donetsk, Ukraine. More information – ‘Drone Company’ of Russian 19th Motorized Rifle Brigade. A story of their Ukrainian ‘trip’ […]
11/01/2015
Kontrakt bojówkarza „noworosji” podpisany w Wołgogradzkiej Komisji Wojskowej - InformNapalm.org (Polski)[…] – Przygody roty bezpilotowców 19. brygady zmechanizowanej w Ukrainie […]
09/14/2016
Ukraine as Testing Range for New Russian Weaponry and Tactics - InformNapalm.org (English)[…] as artillery units in Donbas. One of the most vivid examples is the publication dated May 8, 2015 Drone Company’ of Russian 19th Motorized Rifle Brigade. A story of their Ukrainian ‘trip with the identification of the Russian servicemen, as well as with a series of photos of the […]
12/14/2016
War criminals of 19th Motorized Rifle Brigade of the Russian Army detected - InformNapalm.org (English)[…] May of 2015, the InformNapalm team had identified several war criminals from the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) company of the 19th Motorized Rifle Brigade (military unit […]
12/15/2016
Krigsförbrytare ur ryska 19:e motoriserade skyttebrigaden identifierade - InformNapalm på svenska[…] maj 2015 identifierade InformNapalm flera ryska krigsförbrytare från 19:e motoriserade skyttebrigadens UAV-kompani (militärenhet 20634, Vladikavkaz, Nordossetien […]
01/17/2017
Reconnaissance commander of the 2nd Army Corps in the focus of the UCA. Part 1. Orlan-10 drone - InformNapalm.org (English)[…] ‘Drone Company’ of Russian 19th Motorized Rifle Brigade. A story of their Ukrainian ‘trip’ […]
01/19/2017
Le “chef des renseignements” du 2e Corps des “milices populaires” de “LNR” sous contrôle des cyber-militants (1) - InformNapalm.org (Français)[…] https://informnapalm.org/en/drones-company-of-russian-19th-motorized-rifle-brigade-a-story-of-their-… […]
05/23/2017
Donbass: un francotirador de Rusia está disfrazado de "milicia de Novorossia" de "DNR" - InformNapalm.org (Español)[…] Drone Company’ of Russian 19th Motorized Rifle Brigade. A story of their Ukrainian ‘trip’ 08.05.2016 […]
06/04/2017
Los sistemas de EW en Donbass. Fueron Identificados los especialistas de la 19a brigada de OMSBr de las Fuerzas Armadas de Rusia - InformNapalm.org (Español)[…] ‘Drone Company’ of Russian 19th Motorized Rifle Brigade. A story of their Ukrainian ‘trip […]
06/19/2017
EW-specialister från den ryska 19 motoriserade skyttebrigaden i Donbass[…] ② 2S19 Msta-S self-propelled mortars from North Ossetia near the Ukrainian border 2015-04-08 ③ A drone company of the 19th Motorized Rifle Brigade in Ukraine 2015-05-25 ④ Snipers of the 19th Motorized Rifle Brigade in the Somali terrorist formation 2015-07-27 ⑤ […]
07/29/2017
Identified: Artillerymen from the 19th Motorized Rifle Brigade involved in shelling of Ukraine - InformNapalm.org (English)[…] ‘Drone Company’ of Russian 19th Motorized Rifle Brigade. A story of their Ukrainian ‘trip’, 05/25/2015 […]