In their report referring to 23 November, the SMM assessed several recorded explosions as a live-fire training exercise, suggesting that those occurred 12-15 kilometers northwest of the village of Marynivka. However, journalists of RFE/RL’s project Donbas.Realii have managed to pinpoint the location of the ongoing tank drills to a large training area near Ternove, some 5-7 kilometers further west-northwest. This is how they found it out.
- Read also: Separatists in Donbas have more tanks than Germany, France, and Czech Republic combined (2015)
The DNR group ("Donetsk People's Republic") first announced the drills on 23 November, two days later the DNR websites reported on the ongoing training emphasizing the involvement of tank units in the exercise. All the reports didn't disclose the location of the drills, neither did they publish any videos. The only visuals shown were photos with blurry terrains in the background.
On 23 November, the Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR) of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine also informed of the military drills involving the mobilization reserve carried out by illegal armed groups in the occupied parts of Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts.
The OSCE SMM report of 24 November 2021 mentions drills in the "non-government-controlled territory" two times. First, it mentions eight explosions that the patrol heard northeast of Marynivka, a village situated near the border with Russia, 78 km east of the regional capital of Donetsk. The second mention goes as follows,
"At a checkpoint near Oleksandrivske (formerly Rozy Liuksemburh, non-government-controlled, 90km south-east of Donetsk), two members of the armed formations (one of whom visibly armed) denied the Mission passage into the settlement citing “ongoing training activities” in the area."
The Donbas.Realii journalists were unable to find any location on the satellite images of the seemingly more likely area of Oleksandrivske matching the features on the drill images.
However, the location not far from the SMM's first mention of the live-fire exercise proved to be a well-known training ground near Ternove. Donbas.Realii managed to match elements from the new photos from "DNR" tank drills and archive photos of other drills on the same ground in August 2020 with satellite imagery and pinpoint the exact locations.
Such a power line passes through only one of the training grounds in the occupied territory, previously identified by Donbas.Realii. Moreover, one of the videos by Russian-hybrid forces from August 2020 shows the same objects during the demonstration live-fire shooting of tank crews. That fact confirmed the location and gave more objects in the area to pinpoint.
One of the frames in the 2020 video shows a power line pylon looking different, which helped to find the location in satellite images.
This is the location of this training ground shown in relation to the nearby city of Chystiakove (previously known as Torez) and the village of Ternove:
This and other military equipment bases in the Russian-occupied territory are shown on the map compiled by Donbas.Realii (in Ukrainian).
Further reading:
- Daily review: Russia opens “cultural center” in seized Donetsk temple, US&UK warn Russia against invading Ukraine, Associated Trio visits Brussels
- Russia’s military buildup on Ukraine’s border “on par” with that of April, say online sleuths
- Another piece of Russian electronic warfare equipment spotted in occupied Donbas
- New footage shows Russian PMC Wagner involved in crucial 2015 Debaltseve battle in Ukraine
- War on terms: who’s fighting against Ukraine in Donbas – terrorists, rebels, insurgents?
- 12 facts about the Donbas that you should know
- More evidence of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine discovered by digital sleuth as Russia keeps denying its involvement
- Crimea drills can be the start of a real full-scale invasion of Ukraine – expert (2016)
- “Map of Death”: Concentration camps and mass graves of Ukrainian civilians and military
