Kyiv, April 1, 2016. Subdivisions of the 3rd separate special mission brigade of the Russian Military Intelligence came to the temporarily occupied territories of Donbas from Toliatti (Russian Federation) for rotation. Captain Yerofeev and sergeant Aleksandrov detained on May 16, 2015 after a firefight in the vicinity of Shchastia were members of this very brigade. Eight out of 14 troops from captain Yerofeev’s group are fighting on the territory of Syria at present. “Yerofeev and Aleksandrov confirmed the presence of combat units of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine. Unlike them, the officer of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Nadiya Savchenko illegally kept prisoner on the territory of Russia, was defending her country on her own territory,” said Vadym Skybytskyi, representative of the Chief Intelligence Department of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, at a press briefing at Ukraine Crisis Media Center. According to him, the commander of the 1st Army Corps, Major General Asapov was urgently summoned to Moscow. Intelligence informs that Russia plans to withdraw him prematurely due to publication of data regarding him and other active officers of the Russian Armed Forces fighting on the territory of Ukraine in Ukrainian and foreign media.
According to Skybytskyi, new names of Russian citizens in the ranks of the 1st and 2nd Army Corps of the Center of Home Defense Force of South military command of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation who participate in the war in the east of Ukraine have been identified. The list includes: Aleksei Dmitriev who served in the 76th Pskov airborne division and Arseniy Fadeev, a marine of RF Pacific Fleet, both from Saint-Petersburg; Viacheslav Kornieev from Murmansk oblast serving in Russian airborne forces, having nom de guerre ‘Leshiy’ and Grigoriy Nikolaiev from Yakutsk serving in internal troops of the Ministry of Internal of the Russian Federation.
According to the representative of military intelligence, subverters’ activity escalated during the week, organic forces of the Russian Federation among them. “Activity of subversive reconnaissance groups consisting of the troops of the 331th parachute regiment (home base – Kostroma) was registered in the vicinity of Krasnohorivka, Mariinka and Novotroitske. The groups consisted of former Russian troops drafted in 2015 to participate in the combat on the temporarily occupied territories in the east of Ukraine,” elaborated Skybytskyi. According to him, militants still keep heavy armor close to the demarcation line. For instance, there are 27 tanks within the 15-km area, the majority of them near Donetsk, Yasynuvata and Horlivka. Moreover, there are over 60 artillery systems and self-propelled artillery mounts in the 25-km area, most of them observed near Horlivka, Donetsk and Makiivka. Twenty-one 122-mm Grad multiple rocket launcher systems were registered within the 35-km area not far from Horlivka, Donetsk, Yasynuvata and Mineralne.
Military intelligence recorded 379 shelling at the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces within a week, which included use of 122-mm and 152-mm artillery systems, tanks, combat vehicles, 82-mm and 120-mm mortar launchers and ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft mounts. “The attacks are the most intense near Zaitseve, Maiorsk, Avdiivka, Opytne and Pisky,” informed Skybytskyi.
