Massive bombardments were resulting in significant civilian casualties and kept devastating Ukrainian communities. Ukrainian military commanders were at a loss, for they did not expect Russia to intrude so openly and bring the fighting into densely populated areas on purpose. Ukrainian field camps were easy targets for Russian artillery. The situation became unmanageable. People were escaping the war zone, whole towns were cut off from water and power, grocery stores were running out of food supplies. Humanitarian situation was critical, and it affected the course of action. Unable to effectively attack the enemy without risking high civilian losses, Ukrainian fast-moving counter-offensive broke down.<\/p>\n
Starting from August 2014, violent clashes were taking place everywhere along the front line. On September 5 Ukrainian representatives were forced to sign Minsk Protocol aimed to achieve bilateral ceasefire with Russian terrorist forces and avoid more casualties. However, it did not help. By January 2015 fragile ceasefire completely collapsed leading to one of the most dramatic battles of the war \u2013 the Battle of Debaltseve. The town was heavily shelled by Russia-backed forces, and thousands of residents fled the city under constant bombardment. Despite the attempts to hold the city under government control and the new Minsk II ceasefire agreement signed on February 11, 2015, the fight intensified. On February 18 Ukrainian forces made the difficult decision to withdraw.<\/p>\n
Since that time the war has been going through the ever-changing periods of simmering hostilities and sharp escalations. Stable ceasefire has never been achieved. Although Russian forces never achieved their goal to expand the zone of control, the Kremlin has not abandoned its plans to seize more territories of Ukraine. Those plans have simply been put aside to wait for an opportune moment. Meanwhile Putin is looking for alternative ways to convince the United States and EU member states to lift economic sanctions, restore relations with Moscow, and turn a blind eye to the Russian invasion of Georgia and Ukraine, its violations of the UN Charter, Budapest Memorandum, Russian-Ukrainian Friendship Treaty, and a whole range of other international treaties. Time will show how much longer Putin will be able to curb his appetite before he realizes that no one is going to help him with his aspirations.<\/p>\n
Open source intelligence and evidence of Russian military intervention<\/h2>\n
This odd coincidence, when thousands of Russian soldiers and officers abruptly end their military careers and mysteriously surface in Ukraine, does not seem to bother Russian military commanders \u2013 because in reality all of this is being done by their orders.<\/p>\n \u201cIf this is Russian aggression, then what is your proof?!\u201d – Russian government officials would shout while sending more \u201clittle green men\u201d and weapons to Ukraine. \u201cWe saw them.\u201d \u201cThey spoke Russian with an accent different from that of Ukrainian residents. And they used dialect words that can only be heard in some areas of Russia.\u201d \u201cThey wore Russian type camouflage uniforms.\u201d \u201cThey carried brand new Russian rifles.\u201d \u201cThey annexed Crimea, our territory.\u201d However absurd this may sound now, such dialogues really took place back in 2014.<\/p>\n Ukraine faced the denial of the obvious. In part because Russian officials kept rejecting all accusations. In part because Russian government-sponsored media operating abroad swamped the world with outright lies about the political situation and the war in Ukraine. In part because no country wanted to confront Russia \u2013 it is rather uncomfortable to stand against a nuclear weapon state. In part because most countries cared more about continuing their trade with Russia than about the deaths and suffering of Ukrainian citizens. Yet, we are not to judge others \u2013 we just want to explain what made us start looking for indisputable evidence of the Russian military involvement.<\/p>\n InformNapalm team decided to debunk Russian false claims and back up the truth with hard evidence of Russian military involvement in Ukraine. We mostly used open sources of information \u2013 official websites, reports, videos, satellite images and social media posts \u2013 to glean the full picture of Russian military activities and present it to international community.<\/p>\n Our database of Russian military units identified in Ukraine is the result of two years of work, and we continue improving our data and adding new records of war crimes committed by professional Russian military servicemen in Ukraine. So far, we have proved the participation of 101 Russian military units in the war in Ukraine<\/a>. Each record has a link to a detailed investigation behind each case. So, you can not only browse the database, but follow the logical thread of exposing the crime.<\/p>\n![\"Russia's](\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2016\/09\/InformNapalm.jpg\")
<\/a>While it has never been a great secret for Ukrainian locals that Russian regular army actively participated in the fighting in Donbas, it is not an easy task to prove this fact to the international community. Russian troops have been pretty cautious and diligent in covering up their crime: they paint over the markings on their vehicles and tanks and avoid wearing any insignia that could link them to the Russian Armed Forces. Many Russian officers also carry fake IDs, and all regulars pretend to be volunteer fighters or mercenaries who terminated their military service just several weeks before the \u2018trip\u2019 to Ukraine.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cReally, what is your proof?\u201d – would repeat many foreign officials and diplomats.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThis is not a proof.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThis is not a proof.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThis is not a proof.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThey could have gotten them anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThey did, but it does not prove they are fighting in Donbas now.\u201d<\/p>\nWhat we gathered<\/h2>\n