The international team of InformNapalm volunteers conducting another OSINT investigation found pictures showing a concentration of the military equipment of the Russian occupation army in Donetsk at the premises of ‘Expodonbas’, one of Ukraine’s largest exhibition centers.

 About ‘Expodonbas’ exhibition center

‘Expodonbas’ used to hold 20-30 trade fairs annually, including international ones, and provided a full range of exhibition services: legal paperwork and formalities, transportation, customs brokerage, etc.

It has 32,000 sq.m. of exhibition space, including 18,000 sq.m. of closed area (photos or videos of which are not available). Showrooms are located on three levels. The pavilion was designed to host several fairs simultaneously.

The room height of the first level is 4 meters, of the second level – 11 meters, and of the third level – 3 meters. The floors of the first and second levels are designed to carry the total load of up to 3 t/sq.m, and of the third level of 1 t/sq.m.

On October 17-18, 2013, this venue hosted the 6th International Investment Summit (DIIS), the country’s largest business forum dedicated to energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly business in Ukraine and the issues such as ‘green’ economy, energy efficiency of municipal services and production sectors, alternative and renewable energy, and environmental investments. The event was attended by the country’s top officials.

On the picture (source) published on March 21, 2015, we can see military covered trucks and ammunition.

On August 15, 2015, satellite images were posted on twitter showing various military equipment of the Russian occupation troops outside of the exposition center walls.

Recent picture provided by Yandex.Maps show traces of tracked vehicles near the ‘Expodonbas’ building. So many heavy vehicles moved there that the traces they left can be seen from the satellite. The spot where tracked vehicles made an U-turn is especially clearly visible.

Pictures of the closed areas never filmed before were made by Igor Fomenko who, before going to the war in Donbas, served in the Interior Troops of the Russian Federation in the North Caucasus District in the Republic of Chechnya. Below are some of his photos from those days.

In September 2015, a Russian mercenary Artur Gennadievich Karkischenko posted photos from the same place, but with another tank in background with ‘N2200’ oversize cargo marking used for the transportation of the Russian military equipment by rail, and with ‘100 in a rhomb’ sign – the marking of the Donetsk Corps of the Russian occupation army in Donbas.

One of the photos was geotagged and pointed to the intersection of Mira ave. and Artema St., which is just one kilometer away from the exhibition center.

A photo from this location provided by the Russian mercenary Victor Valentinovich Gubko.

A photo provided by the Russian mercenary Sergei Yuzbashvili against the background of the tank with the inscription ‘For granddaughter Masha’.

A photo of a Russian tank with various Russian marks (N2200, TsT, +).

Finally, a few days ago a Russian mercenary published photos in which we see the tanks of some ‘100th brigade’ hidden in the ruined barns in the village of Zelene near Ilovaysk.

In this way, we have traced the ‘way’ made by the Russian mercenaries from a national exhibition center to a barn.

Original article by @BuTaJIu4eK, translation edited by Stepan Grishin.

Attribution International (CC BY 4.0)