Allow me to repost something which I've been passing around the various Russia threads: ... it is undeniable that Russian provocateurs and regular forces are active within the Ukraine. Before we even go into hard evidence, specifics, it should be self evident; for one, the man at the heart of the separatist movement -- Igor Girkin, alias "Strelkov" -- was, of his own admission, in the employment of the Russian FSB until 2013. From this article, we have the magnificent quote: "If our unit hadn't crossed the border, in the end everything would have fizzled out, like in Kharkiv, like in Odessa." And that was on /r/worldnews' front page only days ago! Secondly, there's the fact that Russia denied it was involved in Ukraine, only for Putin to later confess "Of course our troops stood behind Crimea's self-defence forces ". Russia's word is fundamentally untrustworthy. Rebel leader Alexander Zakharchenko has also attested that 1,200 of his fighters spent 4 months training in Russia. So even if Russia is not directly involved, we have it from the rebel's own lips that they are training and arming them. Does anybody remember the ten Russian paratroops (VDV) which apparently entered the Ukraine by mistake, and were apprehended? Here's the link. The thing is, those paratroops belonged to the 98th Guards Airborne Division. Of the 98th Airborne, you have the 331st and 1065th regiments. Both are based out of Kostroma. Coincidentally, in this article you have two Ukrainian soldiers, belonging to separate units, both attesting they had fought Russian VDV out of Kostroma. On the subject of the VDV, we then have the captured APC's with the documents of Russian paratroopers, paratroopers of the Pskov division's No. 74268 Brigade. A basic understanding of the timeline of the content also demonstrates Russian involvement. Before the massive Russian humanitarian convoy in August, the Ukrainian army were on a veritable blitz, capturing a number of towns including Pervomaisk, Kalynove and Komyshuvakha, tightening the noose around Donetsk and reclaiming much of Luhansk. Then, out of nowhere, a counteroffensive turns the tide. The rebels capture Novoazovsk, and suddenly they're on the doorstep of Mariupol. That is not coincidental. Now let's dig into hard evidence. Here we have a handy camcorder video, from our friends the Separatists. They claim, as in the title, that's a T-72M; a common piece of Soviet surplus which the Ukrainian Army has never operated. They also claim to have captured it from the UA. Weird, huh? Despite that, there's another problem; that's not a T-72M. It's a T-72B3 -- a modernized variant of the T-72 which is operated exclusively by the Russian Federation, and is immediately distinguishable by its French Thales night-vision and reactive armour. The video gives a nice close up of those distinguishing features. On the subject of T-72B3's, we have here footage of another T-72, with a convoy of MT-LB's. It's clearly a modernized variant, as you can see from its reactive armour, though a definite identification is difficult. More T-72's. Again, it's hard to tell what variants they are, but one wonders where they're getting so many T-72's when the modern UA pretty much exclusively operates T-64's. Here we have a T-72BM, happily driving alongside an MT-LB Strela 10M and a BTR-ZD "Skrezhet" -- which is flying the flag of the Sevastopol Naval Infantry. That video was filmed outside Luhansk, and the International Institute for Strategic Studies does not think it is a hoax. Here, you have an interesting case of deja vu. The same MSTA-S, identified from Youtube videos, has been seen in Russia and Ukraine. It's worthy to note that those numbers are actually shorthand for "oversized cargo". Whilst people may suspect the NATO satellite images, they corroborate what we've been seeing so far. And more: I'd also like to bring up the fact that we have video evidence, actual footage, of these Russian convoys. Columns of Kamaz trucks which stretch out literally for miles. Here we have a convoy of BMP's, Kamaz trucks and T-72's. Roughly 150 vehicles in all. Here we have a UAZ, a T-72 and a 2S1 Gvozdika in Donetsk Oblast. Wonder where these rebels are getting hundreds of identical trucks? More. More Yet more Those videos are a pretty big step up from this, which is the sort of convoy you'd expect separatists to have. That was on the 28th of April. You've got a BTR, which they could have plausibly captured, as well as a civilian lorry and an anti-aircraft cannon towed by a bus. And here we have a clueless Separatist operating a 12,7 KSVK rifle, which is exclusively operated by the Russian Federation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IA_VLEudeC4