A journalist investigation has found that official data from a Russian railway tracking service confirm Russian supplies of ammunition and fuel to the occupied part of Donetsk Oblast from Russia by rail in January 2015 amid the Battle of Debaltseve.



"We can see here that the lion's share of all cargoes arriving from Russia on the border with ORDLO in the days of the Battle for Debaltseve make cargoes of two types: fuel/POL, and explosives... Literally every day, dozens of wagons with explosives arrived at the Uspenskaya station from different parts of Russia and each train brought tens and hundreds of tons of these very explosive materials," says Denis Kazansky in his video.Kazansky says that the "explosive substances" that transited through the Uspenskaya station in January 2015 amounted to thousands of tons. There is no data that trainloads ever returned back to exit stations. Moreover, the departure stations from which this type of cargo originated exclude the industrial nature of the explosives as those stations don't have any industrial explosive production or storage facilities in their areas with only military facilities such as ammunition depots located nearby.
The video published in April 2015 shows the dangerous unloading process of artillery ammunition from a Russian freight car, reportedly in Sukhodilsk at Krasnodon station, Luhansk Oblast. The exact date the video was filmed is unknown.
- Bezmenovo, Novosibirsk Oblast is home to the military unit 86775 - the 1819th base of artillery ammunition;
- Bogandinskaya, Tumen Oblast is located in the settlement of Bogandinsky, home to military unit 58661 with the artillery ammunition storage facility.
- Butylitsy, Vladimir Oblast with the military unit 96570 in the nearby village of Zlobino.
"Approximately 60,000 tons of explosives were brought to the stations Gukovo and Uspenskaya (both in Rostov Oblast on the Ukrainian border, - Ed.) in the course of 12 days of January 2015. There were also the last 4 months of 2014 and we don't have data on them yet, but if you'd just count 50,000 tons [for each month], you'll get 250,000 tons of missiles and shells."
Massive traffic of Russian Railways in the second half of 2014 and early 2015 near the eastern Ukrainian borders where Russia smuggled military equipment and ammunition into Ukraine wasn't a secret for those who investigate the Russian involvement in the war in Ukraine's east.
However, the investigation presented by Denis Kazansky may help to quantify the amounts of ammunition and fuel Russia supplied in the occupation zone for its troops.
The video presents only several finds and has to do only with Uspenskaya station on Russia's main railway channel for smuggling military equipment and materials into Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast at the time. Unfortunately, no results were presented on the railway traffic through the station of Gukovo, the border transit point on Russia's same channel for occupied Luhansk Oblast.
Read more:
- Commemorating Ilovaisk, bloody August battle that changed world's view of war in Ukraine
- New footage shows Russian PMC Wagner involved in crucial 2015 Debaltseve battle in Ukraine
- Debaltseve Diaries – Debaltseve under first attacks
- In memoriam: The Defense of Donetsk Airport (25 May 2014 – 22 January 2015)