What was the date when the Russian army units entered Ukraine?
These days, mainly due to politicians’ statements, people say that Russia invaded Ukraine on August, 24, 2014. Maybe indeed the regular Russian units started crossing the border and fighting against Ukrainian army that day… however the first Russian servicemen were noticed far before that.
‘Rain’ [Dozhd] website states that Armen Davoyan was one of the first officially fallen soldiers, his death emerged on July, 14, 2014.
Davoyan served in a reconnaissance battalion of the 9th separate motorized rifle brigade, military unit No. 54046, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia.
It seems that Russian recon groups infiltrated Ukraine on early stages of the war. They ensured the seamless capture of different objects and afterwards local militants took control of them.
Also 6P29 VSS ‘Vintorez’ (suppressed sniper rifle used by special forces units) started to appear in videos and photos on different ‘Novorossiya’ support forums at that period.
The price of such rifle is about 10 thousands of dollars. Regular units and militants use 6B1 SVD sniper rifle with different modifications, and ‘Vintorez’ may be usually seen only in recon units. That is a pretty rare rifle which cannot be bought in a weapon shop. And definitely nobody takes it on vacation.
Checking the reconnaissance company from military unit No. 54046 leads us to 20 yo Sergei Kosarev from Novokuznetsk (Kemerovo Oblast, Russia) and Sergei Yakushev.
Both soldiers have a photo with a Ukrainian border sign in background, dated on May, 3. One of them even specified the location – Luhansk. Such signs are placed on the Ukrainian side of the border – the inscription is in Ukrainian.
Recon group, ‘Vintorez’, Ukrainian side of the border. May, 3, 2014.
Later, on June, 17, Yakushev for the first time uploads a photo with geotags: “Mayakovskogo ave., Donetsk, Ukraine”
Conclusion: the Russian soldiers appeared in Ukraine far before August, 24 and Ilovaisk cauldron. Even the first officially killed soldiers happened in July. And the first recon squads were noticed in April-May, 2014.
Original article by Anton Pavlushko translated by Oleksandr Klymenko
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.
3 Responses to “Russian Sabotage and Reconnaissance Groups in Ukraine long before August 24, 2014”
08/05/2015
Russian Soldier Promises His Friends to Kill Ukrainians 'the Same Way As Last Summer' - InformNapalm.org (English)[…] Western Military District, Russia. This soldier, being a part of a sabotage-reconnaissance group, was disclosed in September, 2014 by our friend Anton Pavlushko. Nothing has really changed since that time […]
03/09/2017
Zaza Khasia, medlem av ”Team Putin” på en mindre ärorik marsch i östra Ukraina - InformNapalm på svenska[…] Russian sabotage and reconnaissance groups in Ukraine long before August 24, 2014 […]
07/19/2017
Identified: Zaza Khasia, member of the Putin Martial Arts Club, who was previously spotted in Donbas - InformNapalm.org (English)[…] Russian Sabotage and Reconnaissance Groups in Ukraine long before August 24, 2014, 09/14/2014 […]