Dmitry Tymchuk, a military expert and head of defense think tank Information Resistance, said today there are up to 27,000 armed Russian troops and Kremlin-backed proxies in eastern Ukraine divided into four separate strike groups, according to a Facebook post on the morning of Nov. 3.
According to Mr Tymchuk, they have in their possession 110-115 tanks, up to 280 various armored fighting vehicles, 80-100 cannon artillery guns and multiple rocket launchers, as well as 500 Russian military armored transport trucks of various design.
He added that the four strike groups are named after their geographic location: Luhansk near Pervomaisk district, Horlivka-Donetsk, Volnovakha-Telmanovsk and Novoazovsk.
Some 14,000-15,000 comprise of Russian military and mercenaries, and another 10,000-12,000 from among a radicalised local population.
Since a shaky ceasefire was brokered in Minsk on Sept. 5 between Russian proxies and officials together with Ukrainian officials, Tymchuk wrote that Kremlin-backed forces have violated the peace agreement nearly 2,400 times by opening fire on Ukrainian positions.
Most recently overnight on Nov. 3 Russian forces fired four times at Ukrainian positions near Stariy Aidar, and twice each at positions in Krymske and Pavlopol. They also shelled Ukrainian positions in Orlovske, Debaltseve, Cherevkovka and Donetsk Airport.
As a result, over 70 Ukrainian servicemen have died at the hands of Russia-backed forces since the Sept. 5 ceasefire. More than 3,400 people have died since the military conflict started in the east in mid-April, including some 1,000 Ukrainian servicemen.
“With the active assistance of Russian specialists, the leadership of (local breakaway groups) DPR and LPR are in the process of ‘unifying’ their gangs to create ‘linear units and subunits,” said Tymchuk. “Currently, this process is not standing out as a success due to the extremely low level of discipline in the ranks of terrorists and their unwillingness to obey a single command.”
