Operational data of the group “Information Resistance”
Over the past weekend (02-03.12.2017), more than a dozen cases of use of 82-mm and 120-mm mortars by Russian occupation forces in the Donbas (at once in several sectors) and the use of armored combat vehicles in the front line were fixed. In addition, on the night of the 2nd to 3rd December, the occupants used 122mm and 152mm cannon artillery.
In the area of DAP, Novoaleksandrovka, Novotoshkovka, northeast of Verkhnetoretskoye, using the weather conditions (fog), the invaders tried to conduct the penetration of their raiding groups into the neutral zone or to the tactical rear of the AFU units, for the purpose of sudden shelling, hidden mining and sabotage.
The situation on the section to the north of Gorlovka and on the right flank of the Svetlodarskaya arc continues to worsen, where the occupation forces are becoming more active. The enemy also intensified in the Mariupol direction, where the occupants do not stop massive shelling from various weapons, including the use of cannon artillery by caliber more than 100-mm.
In particular:
– The invaders fired 30 units of 152 mm HE shells on the advanced positions of the AFU in the south-western and western outskirts of Novoluganskoe from Saturday to Sunday. The shelling was conducted from the area northeast of the railway station Sukhoi Yar. During the shelling, the militants carried and adjusted the fire twice, apparently trying to destroy the fortifications and engineering facilities at the advanced positions of the Ukrainian units defending in this sector;
– the advanced positions of the AFU on the heights north and north-west of Shirokino, east of Lebedinskoe and along both flanks of Vodyanoe (northern and southern) came under massive shelling from 122 mm cannon artillery, 120 mm and 82 mm mortars. From positions on the Vetryaki (north of Bezimennoye), occupants fired twice on the positions at heights near Shirokino and east of Lebedinskoe by 122-mm artillery. In addition, from the beams on the outskirts of Sakhanka and north in the area of Uzhovka (formerly Leninskoe), the enemy repeatedly opened a massive mortar fire at the positions of the AFU in the area of Vodyanoe, east of Lebedinskoe and north of Shirokino. On this site, the enemy used a special fire mobile group, alternating and combining mortar and artillery fire. Also, with the use of 82-mm mortars, the occupying forces fired on the positions of the AFU north of the Mariupol-Telmanovo route (Lomakino, Talakovka, Gnutovo and Piszhevik districts);
– In the area of Peski – Opytnoe, occupants opened mortar fire several times using the so-called combined method – alternating the fire of 82-mm and 120-mm mortars. Also, from the positions in the area of Mariivka and the height of 176.0, the enemy repeatedly opened a massive fire from 82 mm mortars of the type 2B14 “Tray”, and in the area of Peski and Avdeevka – used heavy mounted grenade launchers of the type SPG-9/9M and AGS- 17 with automatic 82-mm mortars 2B9 “Cornflower”.
Redeployments of forces and means of invaders:
– The command of the occupying forces strengthens its tactical group in the Pervomaisk-Mariivka section. An armored group of 4 MT-LB and 4 BMP-1/2, as well as 2 trucks Ural and Kamaz, 2 ZU-23-2 AD systems on a trailer was fixed at the railway station Teplohorsk moving towards T0504 (through it towards Mikhailovka – Mariivka);
– a similar group was recorded in the area of Beryozovskoe, north of the railway station 1010 km – 6 BMP-1 and 2 MT-LB, with two trucks Ural (one with a field kitchen on the trailer) were moving in a northeast direction along the Luganka River;
– In the area of the Smelyoe and the former CP number 32, the occupants redeployed armored vehicles to their stronghold points (3 BMP-2 and 1 BMP-1 were fixed), concealed in caponiers and disguised;
– On the route E-58 (Novoazovsk region), up to a dozen trucks Kamaz were recorded with personnel in full equipment, moving in the direction of Bezymennoe. Apparently, there was a reinforcement of the company. In the bodies of trucks were also recorded infantry armament – heavy grenade launchers, heavy machine guns and infantry ammo;
– Through the Mikhailovka interchange in the direction of Alchevsk – Perevalsk, the occupants were transporting a pair of 122 mm self-propelled guns of type 2C1 “Gvozdika”.
Occupants actively lay minefield in the area north-west of Dokuchaevsk and the settlement of Yasnoye. Given the scale of the work, it was not possible to conduct hidden mining. These actions received serious resonance among local residents. The militants explain the mining by preparing the AFU for the offensive, supposedly “the NATO mercenaries have already been pulled up to the micro district and to the dumps”.
There is a growing shortage of personnel in the “1st Army Corps DNR”. In Donetsk, Makeevka and other large cities of the occupied districts of the Donetsk region there is a massive campaign of recruitment into the ranks of the occupation troops. “Specialists” of a wide range of military registration specialties are “required”. The occupiers are recruiting with use of ads, advertisements in public transport and in public places, media are actively involved, “vocational guidance” is conducted in educational institutions, etc.
Attempts of the occupation authorities to level the actions of the AFU in the area of Gladosovo and Travnevoe in the information space continue. After failing to imagine that the Ukrainian troops allegedly occupied “unprofitable positions”, disinformation spreads about the allegedly “withdrawn” from the previously taken under control of these settlements. This misinformation is aimed at neutralizing the extremely negative resonance among the militants and the local pro-Russian population as a result of the AFU activities, as well as neutralizing the rumors that after Gladosovo and Travnevoe, Ukrainian troops are preparing to take control of the Dolomitnoe and Holmovskoe (according to some rumors, AFU already controls part of Holmovskoe). Misinformation is carried out by active using the mass media controlled by the invaders and working in social networks.
L. Pasechnik, the new leader of the “LNR”, together with the curators from the FSB of the Russian Federation, developed and adopted a “plan for the information support of the humanitarian program for the reunification of the people of Donbass on temporarily controlled territory of the Lugansk region”. In particular, it is planned to strengthen the propaganda effect on young people aged 16-25 and pensioners over 55 who live in the “Ukrainian-controlled Lugansk region”. It is planned to create a number of information resources about the “humanitarian program” on video hosting (primarily YouTube and VK), as well as to attract pro-Russian Internet bloggers for thematic distribution of information in the social networks about “high living standards in the LNR”, criticism of situation in Ukraine, etc.
IR