REUTERS

“The rebel group of ‘Motorola’ and several units of Russian troops are being placed on the front line after being reinforced,” Tymchuk wrote.

“Ammunition is being supplied to the front line by civilian transport."

The group includes several (up to five) roving mortar detachments. In the area overseen by Motorola’s Sparta Battalion, the militants have deployed a Zu-23-2 anti-aircraft gun, Tymchuk added.

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Motorola, whose actual name is Arseny Pavlov, is a leading Russian militant and most probably a Russian special operations soldier.

Photographic evidence indicates Pavlov arrived in Ukraine in mid-April with the group of Russian soldiers, led by Igor “Strelkov” Girkin, who started the conflict in eastern Ukraine by seizing public buildings and offices of the police and security service in the Donbas.