Ukraine: OSCE Film Russian Artillery on Frontline

Yesterday I used a couple of OSCE images to highlight how Russia’s forces hide their frontline artillery. Today we use more OSCE images and again focus on artillery seen on the frontline in eastern Ukraine.

First we touch of Climate Change.
Contributing to the on-going UN Climate Summit in Glasgow, Russia’s president Putin claimed he’d combat deforestation. A worthy cause indeed. To kick off his wood saving efforts, might I suggest he focuses on the deforestation committed by Russia’s forces (RF) in eastern Ukraine. Because they’ve been wantonly chopping down trees there since 2014. Fingers crossed, RF never pitch up in the Amazon rain forests, or we’re all fucked.

Hidden Hardware.
The below OSCE image shows 3 Russia’s forces towed artillery howitzers. Taken in April 2021, they’re close to the ‘occupied’ city of Luhansk and just 4km from the frontline. In an effort to camouflage the transport vehicles and guns, two have been covered with chopped down trees and soldiers can be seen covering the third one (far right). OSCE have rightly marked this as a Minsk agreement violation, as heavy artillery shouldn’t be within 25km of the frontline. Coordinates: 48°38’42.59″N 39°20’1.42″E

Bringing us more up-to-date, we now view an image from July 2021.
Leaving the Luhansk region behind, we travel to the Donetsk Oblast (province). Located near the ‘occupied’ town of Nyzhnya Krynka, the below OSCE image shows 1 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) & 3 towed artillery howitzers. Once again the OSCE marked this artillery as a Minsk violation, as they’re within 25km of the frontline. Coordinates: 48° 5’42.76″N 38°12’18.26″E

The howitzers look to be pointing away (left) from the frontline & the tarpaulin cover still appears to be covering the rocket tubes on the MLRS. This might suggest they’re merely training, but the image clearly signals Russia’s forces routinely breach the Minsk agreement, by keeping artillery close to the frontline.