LUGANSK, February 2. /TASS/. The intelligence of the Lugansk People’s Republic’s (LPR) Militia has obtained information that Ukraine is gearing up for an offensive against Donbass, in particular plans are in store to insert assault forces behind the lines of the people’s republics, People’s Militia spokesman Ivan Filiponenko said.
"Our intelligence received some data on the planned actions of the Ukrainian army during the Donbass offensive. At the beginning of the offensive, the Ukrainian command plans to insert tactical air assault forces from the 79th separate assault airborne brigade behind our lines of defense," he stated.
The spokesman specified that at a testing ground in the vicinity of the Novoaidar community, the servicemen of this brigade are practicing the deployment of the 1st battalion using Mi-8 helicopters from 16th brigade of Ukraine’s military aviation. "At a testing ground in the vicinity of the community of Dmitrovka, combat coordination is being conducted with the subdivisions of the 2nd and 3rd battalions of this brigade, practicing offensive actions of assault teams in urban conditions," he reported.
That said, the command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces is not certain of any success from the potential offensive in Donbass, the authorities are evacuating the documents and property of local administrations, the spokesman said. "Thus, our intelligence agents obtained information that Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) head [Ivan] Bakanov ordered the SBU Main Directorate for the Donetsk and Lugansk Regions to prepare to evacuate personnel files as well as the files on the most valuable agents," the militia’s representative said.
According to the republic’s intelligence, the order in the rearguard of the Ukrainian army will be maintained by the National Guard which will also detain deserters. "Ukraine’s military and political leadership continues active preparations for its aggression against the people’s republics. <...> In the rear of the Ukrainian army’s advancing units, as it was in 2014-2015, the military units of Ukraine’s National Guard will be deployed which after the beginning of the offensive should ensure order and catch deserters, which, as we know from past experience, will be numerous among the ranks of the Ukrainian punitive expeditioners," the spokesman said.
He added that in order to fulfill these tasks, the units of the 15th Slavyansk regiment of the National Guard arrived in the zone of the responsibility of the 57th brigade of the Ukrainian army.
Participation of territorial defense troops
According to the People’s Militia, Kiev decided to include territorial defense units in the offensive now being put together in Ukraine. "In order to fully arm these units, on January 27 of this year, Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada approved bill No. 6302 which makes it possible to arm the territorial defense units with portable anti-tank and air defense systems. Considering the fact that it is not planned to equip these militia units with armored equipment, they will be used for urban warfare conditions where the use of heavy equipment is complicated," the spokesman explained.
Lugansk asserted that "the formation of territorial defense units is nothing more than a camouflaged mobilization that Ukrainian residents treat highly negatively."