{"id":7724,"date":"2016-02-18T12:06:24","date_gmt":"2016-02-18T12:06:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/?p=7724"},"modified":"2016-03-03T12:48:05","modified_gmt":"2016-03-03T12:48:05","slug":"feb18-tanks-near-luhansk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/feb18-tanks-near-luhansk\/","title":{"rendered":"Observers from the InformNapalm Visited the Tank Storage Base near Luhansk"},"content":{"rendered":"

Against the backdrop of strengthening of shelling positions of the Ukrainian military by the Russian-terrorist forces of the so-called \u2018DPR\u2019 and \u2018LPR\u2019, volunteers of\u00a0the InformNapalm international community have revealed another mass accumulation of tanks and ammunition for mortars at one of the storage bases near Luhansk. The Russian Federation continues to deploy\u00a0the military equipment and ammunition to the occupied territory, which may indicate plans to escalate the offensive operations.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Incident injection \u2013 to identify the perpetrators<\/strong><\/p>\n

Data from the personal pages in social networks helped us to identify two militants.<\/p>\n

The first one is Bogdan Sevastyanov, collaborator, the native of Luhansk Oblast (his profile<\/a>, contacts<\/a> and photo album<\/a>). He is a member of the \u2018Batman\u2019 formation, the rapid response team of \u2018LPR\u2019, the reorganized remains of which joined the\u00a0so-called \u20184th separate motorized rifle brigade of LPR\u2019. This is indicated by the Sevastyanov’s chevrons, military equipment which is marked with \u20184 in the square\u2019 tactical sign and his contacts, which were analyzed during exploration of his profile in the social network.
\n\"Selection_136\"<\/a>There is an old data about Sevastyanov in the bases of ‘Myrotvorets’<\/a>, which has contributed to the disclosure of the offender. Nevertheless, this terrorist regularly changes the\u00a0information about himself, so we provide you with his latest page in the social network.<\/p>\n

The second terrorist is certain\u00a0\u2018Nikon Khoroshilov\u2019, a friend of Sevastyanov from Moscow (his profile<\/a>, contacts<\/a>, photo album 1<\/a> and photo album 2<\/a>).\"Selection_137\"<\/a>Mortar ammunition<\/strong><\/p>\n

A number of photos from the storage base appeared in the social profiles of the above-mentioned terrorists on February 14-15. First, we see a\u00a0photo in which\u00a0Sevastyanov is posing with an OF36 round\u00a0for the 120mm mortar<\/strong> in his hands in front of an\u00a0industry building.<\/p>\n

\"Selection_138\"<\/a>By the way, the Minsk Agreement forbids this caliber.
\nAlmost similar photo has been found in the Khoroshilov’s profile.<\/p>\n

\"Selection_139\"<\/a>Note that both terrorists have the same date, filming angle and landscape areas in the photos. Perhaps they were\u00a0involved in the loading and unloading operations.<\/p>\n

Tank park<\/strong><\/p>\n

In addition, volunteers of\u00a0InformNapalm community identified the mass congestion of T-64 and T-72 tanks (at least\u00a09-10 units) which were located in the internal perimeter of the plant yard. Particularly, Sevastyanov uploaded a number of photos with military vehicles, for example:<\/p>\n

\"Selection_142\"<\/a> \"Selection_141\"<\/a> \"Selection_140\"<\/a>Khoroshilov mentioned the same military equipment on an identical industrial site too.<\/p>\n

\"Selection_144\"<\/a> \"Selection_143\"<\/a>The date and place are\u00a0the same again. We need to note the following in the analysis of the pictures.<\/p>\n

Firstly, the military equipment is relatively new and have not participated in battles. The characteristic \u2018smears\u2019 of bright green paint are visible on the sides of some tanks.<\/p>\n

\"Selection_145\"<\/a>The Russians usually mark the combat equipment on top of the old numbers while illegally crossing the border or transferring equipment to Ukraine by railway. Apparently, in this case, invaders have not yet finished painting the new \u2018local\u2019 numbers or tactical signs.<\/p>\n

Secondly, please look at the modification of the tank in foreground (archived photo<\/a>), this is \u0422-72B1 <\/strong>(object 184-1; 1985) from the \u2018exchange\u2019, with ‘Kontakt-1’ explosive reactive armor, TPN-3-49 gunner night sight and L-4 illuminator.<\/strong> However, there is the rack for DVE-BS <\/strong>wind sensor (the sensor itself is removed)<\/strong> behind the night sight. Presumably, this is\u00a0tank version\u00a0T-72S1<\/strong>, which is an export version of T-72B1<\/strong> that was supplied to Iran and was actively delivered<\/a> (RU) to Venezuela in 2011 and 2012.
\n\"Selection_146\"<\/a>Often T-72S1<\/strong> tank is confused with the T-72BA1<\/strong> (modification of T-72B1<\/strong> tank for the Russian Armed Forces) but they have one external distinguishing feature. The 1K13 night sight is installed on the T-72BA1<\/strong> tank instead of the old TPN-3-49. For clarity, here we show the difference between the sights and tank modifications…\"Selection_148\"<\/a>\"Selection_147\"<\/a>…as well as photos of the Iranian T-72S\\<\/strong>\u0422<\/strong>-72S1<\/strong>\u00a0tanks with removed Kontakt-1 reactive armor but with installed DVE-BS wind sensor:\"Selection_152\"<\/a> \"Selection_151\"<\/a>We can assert with high probability that this is another fact of the equipment delivery from Russia to the local \u2018hybrid\u2019 army. How else the Russian export tank modification for Iran\\Venezuela could appear\u00a0in the southeast of Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Identification of the base<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite the lack of geological data, volunteers of\u00a0the InformNapalm international community determined the exact location of the\u00a0equipment and ammunition<\/strong> storage <\/strong>based on the characteristic features of the fenced area and industrial building. This is the\u00a0territory of the \u2018Raiduga\u2019 [Rainbow] colors plant (\u2018Raiduga\u2019 Bilensky plant LLC), which is located in the Bile settlement\u00a0(Lutuhyne Raion in Luhansk Oblast). It is between the Alchevsk and Luhansk cities on the map<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It should be recalled\u00a0that intelligence agents of\u00a0the InformNapalm have already informed the readers about this plant in November of 2015, in the article “Tanks for the Coloring at the \u2018Raiduga\u2019 Plant<\/a>“. There were at least 24 tanks on this base at the end of the autumn of last year.<\/p>\n

It should be noted that Bile is situated on an important M04 highway and lies just 3 km west from the \u2018Zbirna\u2019 railway station.<\/p>\n

Conclusions<\/strong><\/p>\n

Based on the above material we can state the following:<\/p>\n