Heavy artillery, military hardware swells in occupied Donbas in July, OSCE reports

More than 200 units
of heavy artillery and military hardware were registered in occupied Donbas in
July by the OSCE special monitoring mission in Ukraine, swelling by 8.5 times
from the previous month, according to the Ukrainian side for the Joint Center
for Control and Coordination. “Such activity of the Russian armed formations
has led to a sharp growth in the amount of violations of the ceasefire regime
along the separation line,” according to the special monitoring mission.

The OSCE has
registered two tank battalions, two divisions of self-propelled artillery, a
towing howitzer division, up to 100 armored military vehicles, two batteries of
Grad missile systems, two batteries of towing howitzers and more than 20 units
of armored hardware.

Zenon Zawada: We
believe the Russian government will be trying to destabilize the political
situation in Ukraine during the ongoing presidential campaign season, with its
military ready to be deployed swiftly under the needed mass media pretext. The
closer we get to election day in end-March (and in the subsequent weeks), the
higher the risk of destabilization. These reports of accumulating artillery and
hardware in occupied Donbas are consistent with this strategy. But Russia has
also been building up its navy on its Azov Sea coastline, and mounting forces
along its entire border with Europe.