Tracking the Ukraine BUKs: 156th Regiment/3rd Battalion
by 
User Andrew did a lot of research on the whereabouts of Ukraine BUKs. He wrote a detailled report about the
situation south of Shakhtars’k here.
In a comment of another post at this site Andrew posted the whereabouts of 156th Regiment/3rd Battalion between March and July 2014.
I understand Bellingcat is at the moment researching the whereabouts of Ukraine BUks are well. Lets see what the conclusions will be.
Not sure which batallion this video shows. It shows a couple of trucks carrying missile containers.
BUKs belong to 156th 2nd Battallion shown in the video below . Seen are 232, 212 and 222 in a field. The text says close to the Russian border.
BUK 211 on the above video. Dubie, Lviv oblast, Lviv oblast — 49°58′20.8“N 25°04′34.0“E
Below the comment of Andrew. His findings needs confirmation.
This is BUK 122 belonging to the 1st Battalion on highway Donetsk – Krasnoarmejsk, 12 March 2014.
There were no BUK’s in Kramatorsk when the videos were made. The 156th Regiment/3rd Battalion reappeared in Kramatorsk on July 18. Their complete timeline uncovered so far:
March 4, 2014 – leave base A-0194 in Lugansk for Kramatorsk airfield under self-propulsion.
March 5, 2014 – 301, 312, 321, 323, 331, 332 seen in Soledar early morning under self-propulsion.
March 6, 2014 – arrive in Kramatorsk
March 16 (311, 323), March 17 (312), March 19 (321, 332) – depart Kramatorsk to base A-1428 in Spartak via H20 Highway and Yasynyvuta Traffic Police Post on civilian (311, 323, 312) and military (321, 332) haulers
March 19 (312, 321, 332) – depart Spartak west via Karlovka to Vasylkivka on civilian (312) and military (321, 332) loaders
March 22 (301, 323, 331) – depart Spartak west via Dimitrov to Vasylkivka on military loaders
July 4 – arrive via Izyum in Dovhenke (301, 311, 312, 323, 321, 331, 332) on military loaders
July 18 – arrive Kramatorsk (301, 311, 312, 321)Remaining units:
300, 313, 322, 333 left at Lugansk on March 4, captured by LNR rebels on June 3 at base A-0194, and confiscated by Russian military on July 17/July 18 and taken to Russia.323, 321, 312, 301, 331, 332 seen sitting on the side of the road at Soledar, 05:00 am (supposedly)
323, 321, 312, 301, 331, 332 under movement from Lisichansk to Artemovisk, March 5, 2014, 07:00 am.
Buk 331, 332, the tail end of convoy seen in Artemovisk Raion, March 5, 2014.
311 and 323 on M04 Motorway, March 16, 2014 15:36 pm
312 at Yasynuvata Police Post, March 17, 2014
321, 332 at Yasynuvata Police Post, March 19, 2014
https://vk.com/wall56303145_2403321, 312, 332 passing the Orthodox Church at Karlivka on March 19, 2014 at 09:47 am
301, 331, 323 rolling through Dimitrov, March 22, 2014
by
some sources say the 156th ukainian regiment may be involved in the shooting down of mh17.
http://sputniknews.com/world/20140725/191242509/Ukrainian-Air-Defense-Exercises-Might-be-Behind-Malaysian.html
“On July 17 the commanding officer of 156th Anti-Aircraft Regiment was instructed to conduct a training exercise of ground troops stationed near Donetsk, which involved deploying the troops, and carrying out a routine tracking and destroying of targets with the Buk-M1 missile,” the source said.”
https://www.rt.com/news/194848-mh17-ukrainian-missile-buk/
“On the day that the MH17 was shot down, Ukraine’s 156th SAM regiment carried out an unauthorized missile launch, an emergency situation that is being investigated by the SBU and obviously being hushed up by Kiev authorities, the official said. “
“confiscated by Russian military on July 17/July 18 and taken to Russia.” Based on what information?
““confiscated by Russian military on July 17/July 18 and taken to Russia.” Based on what information?”
They vanish from Base A-0194 after July 16 while it was held by LNR Rebels.
See Google Earth July 16.
CP 300 – 48°36’35.38″N, 39°13’53.12″E
Compare location to picture of CP 300 on this website:
http://zmei-cvdk.livejournal.com/632.html?thread=376
TEL 333 – 48°36’35.86″N, 39°13’54.91″E
Again, compare location to the picture on the above website.
TEL 313 – 48°36’35.86″N, 39°13’55.31″E
TELAR 322 – 48°36’36.18″N, 39°13’54.96″E
Ground picture of BUK 322 provided here. Note fence and military vehicle in background that can be seen on Google Earth looking towards the NNE.
Also note TELAR 322 in photo of TEL 333 on previous website and compare to photo in Tweet. Note the identical paint flaking on the radar dome. The Tweet photo was taken before June 30, by which time the LNR had turned on the BUk and rotated the launch shoe.
Now see picture on Terraserver for July 27, or Google Earth on August 8. All vehicles are missing.
Ukraine’s Valery Naida of the SBU made the following statement on July 18.
At 2am (local time) on Friday July 18, about 8 hours after the plane came down, in a region of Ukraine near the Russian border, two big trucks each carrying a BUK system – one with a missing missile, were seen heading for Russia.
At 4am on Saturday morning three more such trucks moved over the border into Russia. One had a BUK-M1, one was empty, and the third carried a tracking module that runs the system.
“Russia is trying to hide its terrorist activity,” Nayda said.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/europe/10288671/MH17-We-have-proof-Russia-knew
http://www.sbu.gov.ua/sbu/control/en/publish/article?art_id=129116&cat_id=35317
Russia makes attempts to suppress evidence of its involvement in act of terrorism over Ukraine
The Security Service of Ukraine has compelling evidence that a Boeing 777 aircraft was shot down with the use of Buk anti-missile system which together with a crew had been transferred from Russia to Ukraine, the Head of the SSU Department Vitalii Naida informed during the briefing at the Crisis Media Center.
‘The SSU conducts investigative actions and receives irrefutable evidence that Russian citizens were involved in the act of terrorism,’ – Naida said. He assured the evidence had been already forwarded to all the Service’s international partners. The SSU directly cooperates with the Dutch police and law enforcers from other states whose citizens became victims of the 17 July terrorist act.
The SSU senior officer showed journalists photos of a Buk launcher on one of the streets in the town of Torez, and photos of a convoy transporting the launcher across Donetsk region.
In addition, a photo was released taken at the moment of a missile launch near Torez towards the village of Snizhne. It distinctly depicts contrail of the missile that shot down the Boeing 777 with civilians aboard. Vitalii Naida emphasized that the Service had identified a launch point in the district controlled by terrorists and Russian military.
The SSU representative informed as well that the Russian side ordered terrorists to withdraw Buk launchers from Ukraine.
At 2:00, July 18, two movers each with a Buk missile launcher crossed the Russian border in Luhansk region. At 4:00, another three movers: one of them empty, other carrying a launcher with four missiles and the latter allegedly with a control unit, crossed the state border.
He stressed that Russia attempted to suppress evidence of its involvement in the terrorist act.
And this is why it is impossible that Ukraine will ever be able to provide the current whereabouts of Command Post 300, TELAR 322, and TEL’s 313 and 333 from Base A-0194.
They abandoned them at the base in March, 2014 and no longer possess them.
Andrew, but why do you believe everything SBU says? The statements about numerous Buks crossing the border at 2am and at 4am on 18 July were substantiated with nothing. Just words. Initially, Naida and SBU talked of one of the Buk launchers “with one missile missing” or “with three missiles”. Later SBU updated the text they posted on their website on 19 July. As a result of the update, “three missiles” and “one missile missing” were deleted from the SBU text. Given that they “corrected” a very important part of their statements, how can we be sure that their statements about Buks crossing the border were true at all?
abcd:
Did you read through what I posted and examine all the evidence or not? I thought I was very clear.
There were 4 BUK vehicles left by Ukraine on March 4, 2014 at base A-0194 which was under the control of the LNR since June 3, 2014. After July 17, 2014, these vehicles vanish without there being a change in control of the base. The SBU meanwhile says that 4 BUK’s matching the description of these BUK’s passed the border.
Using logic and favoring the most parsimonious explanation of the evidence, we can infer that the Russian military confiscated these 4 BUK vehicles. Its not a matter of “believing the SBU” but simply using one’s brain and eyes.
Andrew. Among others, the Kyiv Post wrote, according to official announcements from the 14th of July, that the ATO forces had freed Metalist, Oleksandrivsk, Bile, Rozkishne in Luhansk region from militants. Although this official claim might not have been entirely correct at that particular date, it was clear that heavy fighting was going on in the northern part of the City of Luhansk.
There is also this Facebook message from Mark Sleboda to a certain Andrew:
If there was a plan as Sleboda wrote, and the Buk systems had any value, they would have taken them before this date, certainly before the 16th of July.
Rob:
“from the 14th of July, that the ATO forces had freed Metalist, Oleksandrivsk, Bile, Rozkishne in Luhansk region from militants. Although this official claim might not have been entirely correct at that particular date, it was clear that heavy fighting was going on in the northern part of the City of Luhansk.”
There was heavy fighting, and there is a long video available recounting the use the LNR made of base A-0194 which is on a convenient strategic height above the entire area at 160 m. The towns listed were (1) in the no-mans land between facing positions of each side around Lugansk or (2) on the path taken by the Ukrainian 1st Tank Brigade to the airport. So at Metalist, the LNR was south of the village and the Ukrainian Army was north of it. Fascinating video here about the fights at A-0194:
“the Buk systems had any value, they would have taken them before this date, certainly before the 16th of July.”
Again, the point wasn’t that they had value, it was that the needed to disappear, and that they suddenly did just after MH17, and that the count of vehicles at the base matches the count of vehicles supposedly crossing the border. So the simple explanation is that Russia confiscated the vehicles the LNR had captured and SBU used that action to blame Russia for supplying those same vehicles to the LNR!
Andrew, “it was that the needed to disappear”. This looks no sound argument to me. These were Ukrainian Buks, supposed to be unusable.
Naida made his statement according to this video on the 19th of July:
He clearly stated at 2 am two Buks crossed the border, one with three and one with four missiles. The article on the SBU site omitted the part where he spoke about the missing missile. He did not present actual proof of the BUKS crossing the border. In stead, he showed the well known pictures of Buk 312 and the “Luhansk” Buk with the missing missile. He claimed they were on their way to the border. We know that Buk 312 is actually an old picture from an Ukrainian Buk. The other picture was from a Buk on a truck driving on Pavlivska street, Luhansk City, nowhere near the border at a wrong time (5 am). So there is no evidence to corroborate anything Naida said.
Spokesman on ATO, Andriy Lysenko said something about a video of a Buk in Luhansk in a briefing on the 17th of July. This suggest an alternative: the “Luhansk” video shows a Buk (322?) from base A-0914 on its way to Donetsk. If you look at the map, this makes more sense then a Buk from Snizhne trying to cross the border.
Yes, I don’t buy into the Andrew’s belief that the rebels’ Buk were taken to Russia either.
Firstly, why? Ukraine already know that they are in rebel’s possession. Secondly, why risk someone documenting the Buks being transported to Russia or on Russia’s land, if you can simply hide them in a hangar or something?
Rob:
“These were Ukrainian Buks, supposed to be unusable.”
What if they weren’t? What if someone had been making repairs on them? What if Ukraine recaptured the BUK’s by retaking the base and then put them on display claiming they had captured the rebel BUK? What was the downside of confiscating them? Confiscating them provides opportunity for a scenario of planting the BUK elsewhere at a later date and claiming rebels have captured or destroyed or found the Ukrainian BUK that shotdown MH17. Same for missiles – a confiscated Ukrainian missile could be exploded and evidence planted at the MH17 crash site. Confiscating them also provides the future opportunity if it became necessary for Russia to dump the accident onto or tar one of the Rebels by dropping the Rebel and a BUK into the lap of international investigators and saying “look what we found!”. The new Russian/Rebel story after the shootdown of MH17, as emphasized on the tape you link, was that rebels had no BUK’s. Therefore, any BUK’s around had to go to make the story plausible. I don’t see the downside of Russia taking them. Taking them opens multiple scenarios to control future direction of the investigation without actually participating in it.
“at 2 am two Buks crossed the border, one with three and one with four missiles. The article on the SBU site omitted the part where he spoke about the missing missile.”
Ukraine left missiles behind at both the bases. There are public images of missiles left at Donetsk. Possibly the missiles were confiscated too by loading them on the BUK’s. The 4 and 3 missiles statement clearly comes from the two pictures of 312 and mystery BUK. At 4 am supposedly another BUK with 4 missiles passes the border along with the Command Post. The emphasis of the statements is one missile is fired and it hit MH17 and the rest returned to Russia.
“He did not present actual proof of the BUKS crossing the border.”
No proof has ever been presented of any BUK or missile crossing the border in either direction. Just speculations and statements. It also might have presented difficulties to show pictures of these vehicles, since they would have been clearly Ukrainian origin, and two of them were TEL slave units without a target radar. Better for Ukraine to discuss them without pictures as it implies lots of Russian BUK’s running around.
“We know that Buk 312 is actually an old picture from an Ukrainian Buk.”
Perhaps this was an error and it was intended to show a picture of BUK 322 and instead a stock photo of BUK 312 got inserted.
“The other picture was from a Buk on a truck driving on Pavlivska street, Luhansk City, nowhere near the border at a wrong time (5 am).”
Without the original video time/date stamp, there is no way to make such a statement as to when this truck passed (assuming the video is genuine).
“Andriy Lysenko said something about a video of a Buk in Luhansk in a briefing on the 17th of July. This suggest an alternative: the “Luhansk” video shows a Buk (322?) from base A-0914 on its way to Donetsk.”
Plausible alternatives for video accounting for Lysenko:
(1) Taken on morning of July 17 of vehicle moving from A-0194 to Snizhne.
(2) Taken on morning of July 18 of vehicle moving from A-0194 to Russia.
(3) Fake video.
(4) Taken some other day and one missile edited out to create “evidence”.
Its not driving in the direction of Donetsk unless you believe it needed to make a long detour around the Lugansk airport for lack of passable routes to the southwest.
Lets get back to my original point. 4 BUK’s disappear from Lugansk A-0194 Base. SBU says 4 BUK’s matching the description (3 launchers, 1 command post) pass to Russia. For Ukraine, the Russian movement can serve as “evidence” of Russian and Rebel involvement in MH17 at a very serious level of deploying an entire battery of vehicles. For Russia, taking the vehicles serves the story of rebels having no BUK’s. Lets also note that Russia purposefully drew attention to these BUK’s in its presentation on July 21 and claimed it was a Ukrainian deployment, obviously knowing it was not. We must search for the reason for this as well.
SBU is not credible and neither is RU MOD.
But where do you think “rebels” took the BUK units from the base, if not to Russia?
Your SBU link does not work.
Not that it matters much. I pretty much know what Kiev officials claimed after the MH17 tragedy. In fact this very propaganda campaign including prefabricated “social media” evidence is the proof that it was not an accident, but a deliberate provocation
Andrew, In this version of the article, the SBU deleted the image, which was shown by Naida in his presentation dated the 19th of July “into the direction of the Russian border”, with the pictures of Buk 312 and the “Luhansk” Buk. A coincidence?
Marcel:
The trail of the BUK’s will be outlined in a number of posts.
323, 321, 312, 301, 331, 332 seen sitting on the side of the road at Soledar, 05:00 am (supposedly)
323, 321, 312, 301, 331, 332 under movement from Lisichansk to Artemovisk, March 5, 2014, 07:00 am.
Buk 331, 332, the tail end of convoy seen in Artemovisk Raion, March 5, 2014.
311 and 323 on M04 Motorway, March 16, 2014 15:36 pm
312 at Yasynuvata Police Post, March 17, 2014
321, 332 at Yasynuvata Police Post, March 19, 2014
https://vk.com/wall56303145_2403
321, 312, 332 passing the Orthodox Church at Karlivka on March 19, 2014 at 09:47 am
301, 331, 323 rolling through Dimitrov, March 22, 2014
Moving through Izyum, July 4, 2014
Am Freitag war jedenfalls ein Kolonne mit sechs ukrainischen Flugabwehrraketen des Typs BUK am Hauptquartier der Streitkräfte bei der Stadt Isjum zu sehen. Da die Rebellen keine Luftwaffe besitzen, kann das nur eines bedeuten: Man denkt in Kiew viel an Moskau in diesen Tagen.
http://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/ausland/europa/ukraine-krise-es-ist-vorueber-die-separatisten-sind-weg-13029665.html?printPagedArticle=true#pageIndex_2
321 Arriving in Dovhenke, July 4, 2014. Unknown unit behind it.
The two videos discussed by Bellingcat at Dovhenke.
On July 4 or 5, showing 323, 332, and unknown TELAR (probably 331)
Before July 16 showing KUPOL 301, two unknown TELAR’s:
BUK’s arrive at Kramatorsk by midday July 18:
http://vk.com/wall-57424472_7622
312 and 301 at Kramatorsk
https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2015/01/05/is-this-ukrainian-buk-a-clue-in-the-mh17-investigation-or-a-red-herring/
312 at Kramatorsk
https://vk.com/wall-72671313_175220?z=photo51595925_358912804%2Fwall-72671313_175229
And many more such pictures. They can be seen on Google Earth to number three TELARS’s (311, 312, 321) and one TAR-KUPOL (301) at Kramatorsk.
And then the 156th Regiment/2nd Battalion, March 19, 2014 “near the Russian border” whatever that means.
232 + unknown TELAR (probably 231), 212 + unknown TELAR (probably 211), TELAR 222, Command Post 200
And so 156th Regiment, 1st Battalion
121 near Karlovka on March 12, 2014, 11:00 am
121 on the Selidovo Bypass, March 12, 2014
121 in Krasnoarmieysk on March 12, 2014, around noon.
The Ukrainian news media takes notice on March 12, 2014 in Krasnoarmieysk
TV news report on BUK 121 and 122
Print rerpot
http://orbita.dn.ua/cherez-krasnoarmejsk-prosledovala-kolonna-voennoj-tehniki-foto.html
Interview with driver
;
122 stopped on the side of the road Donetsk-Krasnoarmieysk in the Yasynovata Raion, March 12, 2014
111, 112 at Kurakhovo, morning of March 16, 2014
Leaving Kurakhovo on the route to Zaporozhye, morning of March 16, 2014
123 leading a convoy of towed D-30 artillery in Donetsk Oblast, March 17, 2014 or possibly earlier
Compare the four units of towed artillery in the last video above with BUK 123 to Sergey Paschenko’s photo of a BUK training jamboree.
https://vk.com/photo136727005_379269108
I think it is pretty clear the Paschenko photo is shortly after these videos were taken at the destination off to the west.
Its also interesting to note that BUK 131 is not present – there are only four TELARS, TEL 123, CP 100, and TAR 101. It makes me wonder if I perhaps miscounted it elsewhere or just assumed its presence? Assistance with that would be appreciated. Is it possible it stayed behind in Spartak with the infamous 132?
Here is another view of the BUK jamboree.
https://vk.com/photo136727005_377942787
We can perhaps do some unit identification by missile colors. In the videos above, BUK 122 had the red tipped missiles but BUK 121 had white. In the 111/112 video, 111 had red tipped missiles (its pulled by the blue truck) and 112 had white (and was pulled by the white truck).
Not towed D-30 artillery. Towed anti-aircraft machine guns, which makes more sense.
https://vk.com/photo136727005_374880418
100, 121, 122, 123 and our buddy Sergey Paschenko, standing guard June 25, 2014.
http://opolchenec.info/news/102-soldata-ukrainskoy-armii-zatravili-za-foto-na-fone-buka.html
Video taken in summer 2014 from the ground and on top of 100 showing 101, 111, 112, 121, 122, 123, posted to VK.com, but then deleted, but not fast enough
Somewhere in zone of ATO, July 20, 2014
100, 101, 111, 112, 121, 122, 123, 131 parading along in convoy
Should read:
“Video … showing 101, 111, 112, 121, 122, 123, 131”
I’m looking at this video more closely.
TELAR
TELAR
TAR/KUPOL
TELAR
TELAR
TEL
TELAR
Empty Hauler
BUK Command Post
Missile and Logistics Trucks
TELARS may have tri-color paint?
Have I misidentified? Is this 223rd Regiment, 1st Battalion?
Paschenko has more on his VK page:
http://vk.com/album136727005_000
Wow Rob! Great find!
This is the same guy who claimed “Civil war is not for me!”
Obviously not!
And those who did not make it.
113, 133 destroyed at Base A-1428
132 in album showing its gradual destruction at Base A-1428 in late summer/fall 2014/winter 2015. Note also a truck loaded with BUK missile containers was destroyed at the base. Not all the missiles were evacuated either unless we believe these containers were magically empty.
http://lostarmour.info/armour/item.php?id=5360
“Note also a truck loaded with BUK missile containers was destroyed at the base.”
Good find!
“Not all the missiles were evacuated either unless we believe these containers were magically empty.”
UA (proven) insane incompetence could have left working missiles at the base, yes. Or they were containers of some practice/parade material.
sotilaspassi:
“UA (proven) insane incompetence could have left working missiles at the base, yes. Or they were containers of some practice/parade material.”
According to Almaz-Antey, Ukraine had around 1400+ BUK missiles. If these were spread about proportional to battalions of launchers, then each battalion would be expected to have around 130+ missiles. We can then account for them as follows.
~400 captured in Yevpatoria by Russia.
~600+ in Stryi 223rd Regiment
~150 in Shepetivka 11th Regiment
~150 each in Lugansk, Donetsk, and Mariupol, 156th Regiment
Each transport truck carries 6 missiles, while generally each Battalion of the 156th Regiment had 6 launchers leave the base loaded with missiles. So if 24 missiles left early on, there would be another 15-20 truck loads to complete the evacuation. I’ve yet to find a video with more than 3 trucks moving missiles at once in a convoy, and the timing of the convoys shows them several days apart. It would seem like they may have simply run out of time before Strelkov and Bolotov started the revolt and the ability of the Ukrainian Army to move equipment closed.
Normally I expect every sane military force to destroy (with explosives) any/all weapons that they can not evacuate.
But I suppose “normal” does not cover Ukraine army ((they might not even know the exact locations of their weapon storages)).
Not just BUK’s but also missiles on the move.
Kramatorsk, no later than April 23, 2014. 3 BUK missile trucks and some other equipment support trucks of a BUK regiment.
Great job, Andrew.
As everyone has enjoyed getting to know Ukraine’s 156th Regiment so well, lets now introduce the 223rd Regiment based in Stryi, Lviv Oblast. This Regiment also appears to have ended up in the ATO zone at least in Sector B, and there is copious video and pictures of their BUK’s available online. Their force structure includes 4 Battalions, and they use a numbering scheme for each Battalion different from the 156th as follows:
CP – X00
TAR/KUPOL – X01
1st Battery – TELAR X10 and X11, TEL X12
2nd Battery – TELAR X20 and X21, TEL X22
3rd Battery – TELAR X30 and X31, TEL X32
They also use a unique tri color paint scheme for some battalions of olive drab green, brown, and grey.
Home is here, at the abandoned Stryi airbase.
49°14’39″N, 23°46’23″E
Google Earth on October 5, 2013 gives a great indication of the scale of force available to this Regiment, as around 30 BUK’s are visible parked on base or deployed active just to the southeast at their firing positions on base. It was from this regiment that BUK’s were likely being reconditioned at UKRBORONPROM, as the numbering scheme of vehicles I have found makes me think the total number of BUK vehicles should be around 44, although this requires further investigation to confirm.
Unknown location, posted September 17, 2014. 223rd Regiment, 1st and 3rd Battalion/mixed Batteries
TEL 122, TELAR 121, TEL 322, TELAR 331 all without missiles, fuel tanker, support trucks, 2 trucks with missiles, loader crane truck, trenching digger and an excavator
Supposedly Kherson Oblast, September 19, 2014. 223rd Regiment, 3rd Battalion. TELAR 3XX, CP 300, TEL 312, TELAR’s 321 and 311 all without missiles, various support trucks, 3 trucks with BUK missiles
Given the dates, these movements probably represent vehicles returning to Stryi after the 1st Minsk Ceasefire Agreement.
These pages have pictures posted to VK.com by Father O. Mykhailo, a military chaplain apparently with the 223rd Regiment. Discussion made August 1, 2014 about pictures from May 9 with TELAR 231 and July 15 with TELAR 211 which is geotagged in VK to Novoselivka Persha, Donetsk Oblast, which is Zone B of the ATO. Note the number of missile crates in the pictures.
http://www.yaplakal.com/forum2/topic875128.html
https://imgur.com/a/yapZ7
Supposedly Stryi, Lviv Oblast, supposedly July 19, 2014 at 2:21 pm. 223rd Regiment, 2nd Battalion, Batteries 2 and 3. These are the same vehicles in the Fr. O. Mykhailo pictures.
TELAR 211 and 221, TEL 222, TELAR 230 and 231, TEL 232, all loaded with missiles
A few weeks later on Google Earth, is this a BUK near the same area?
48°10’14.43″N, 37°35’13.72″E
July 27, 2014 for the Google Earth image.
Andrew, you claim that it is Buk 211 in the O. Mykhailo picture.
But I think it is Buk 210 ! And it is NOT the same Buk as in the Stryi video.
Please compare the video with the picture.
In the video the number 211 is on the brown coloured part of the Buk.
In the O. Mykhailo picture the number (211 – as you claim, 210 – as I claim) is on the grey part of the Buk !!!
“But I think it is Buk 210”
Yes, you are right, it is 210.
Andrew did you see this:
https://vk.com/wall-41232698?offset=38780&own=1
https://vk.com/wall-41232698?offset=38940&own=1
AntiMaidan wrote:
“15 июля… Украинский БУК в зоне АТО. Интересно, правда?”
Two videos posted on February 10, 2015 and showing a winter scene (trees with no leaves) 223rd Regiment, 4th Battalion
TEL 413 with 4 missiles, TELAR 422 without missiles (no, numbering not consistent with what I wrote before – there are a few oddities like this)
TELAR’s 431 and 421 without missiles
Andrew, are you sure that the 223rd Regiment has only one KUPOL ?
Remember the picture of O. Mykhailo inside a KUPOL. It was geotagged south of Debaltseve at the intersection E50 (M04) and E50 (M03).
You claimed that it is a wrong geotag, because Debaltseve was in rebels hand at this time.
But that seems not to be the whole truth.
On August 2/2014 the OSCE wrote :
„The SMM observed a new checkpoint positioned at Mius (14 km south-east of Debaltseve). At the Ukrainian checkpoint in Debaltseve (70 km north-east of Donetsk), the agreed ceasefire seemed to hold. About 10 kilometres south of Mius, the SMM was met by an “LPR” escort, and drove to the main wreckage site. The SMM saw several instances of artillery impacts at 7–10 kilometres southwest of the crash site between 13:03-14:19hrs.“
http://www.osce.org/ukraine-smm/122189
Two Ukrainian checkpoints deep inside a territory allegedly under full control of the rebels.
I could provide you with more evidence, that the area between Debaltseve and the crash site was not completely controlled by the rebels.
Ukrainian troops were also fighting in Shakhtersk and Horlivka.
So, to me it is not impossible that O. Mykhailo inside a KUPOL was geotagged south of Debaltseve.
Further comments about 223rd Regiment based in Stryi, Lviv Oblast is this post please
https://whathappenedtoflightmh17.com/tracing-the-ukraine-buks-223rd-regiment-based-in-stryi-lviv-oblast/
Liane, you are quoting a source from 2 august. The Ukrainians engaged in an assault to the crashsite shortly after the 17th from the north to Debalsteve and from the south to Shakhtarsk-Torez.
They managed to obtain large portions of area. On the 29th of july the situation was such that it seemed the DNR was almost cut of from the LNR because the Ukrainians marched in from both sides.
See the map with this article: https://hectorreban.wordpress.com/2015/06/18/did-the-ukrainians-shoot-down-flight-mh17/
Hector, you’re right – I had to set an earlier link.
But in principle my thesis does not contradict your remarks, as you wrote :
„The front line was not impenetrable, so Buks could easily be positioned within firing range of MH17, also in what is called ¨rebel controlled area¨.“