InformNapalm international volunteer community identified more than 40 types of weaponry and special equipment of the Russian Armed Forces in the Donbas through open-source intelligence activities (analysis of satellite imagery, chance videos made by bystanders, personal photos from social network accounts of Russian mercenaries and military personnel, etc.).
Most of the identified pieces are relatively new types which entered service with the Russian Army from 2004 to 2015. The weapons and equipment presented in the report directly point to the Russian presence in the occupied parts of Luhansk and Donetsk Oblasts. This report features only confirmed data. We did not use include the information about the types of equipment reported by intelligence agencies of Ukraine without photo or video evidence. We also did not include the Buk surface-to-air missile system (SAM), which destroyed MH17 airliner, since the official report of the investigative group containing the exact modification of the SAM system used is expected in the near future.
It should be noted, that the use of the latest Russian military hardware in the Donbas is not a mass phenomenon, and looks more like spot troop tests. Most part of identified systems are electronic warfare (EW) and signals intelligence (SIGINT) systems. Such types of equipment can only be operated by qualified personnel. Therefore we strongly believe that they have not been transferred to local illegal armed groups. Operation and maintenance of this equipment is carried out by professional Russian servicemen. While testing the novel types of equipment, Russian political leadership continues saturating the occupied territories of Ukraine with the de-mothballed Soviet legacy weapons.
InformNapalm formed a special database with the results of its own OSINT investigations in the period from 2014 to 2016. Permanent link: bit.ly//RuWeaponryDonbasEN
InformNapalm also produced infographics based on the report.
