Russian Buk-M1 missile systems with hidden hull IDs moving to Ukraine [video]

By Boyko Nikolov

PANAGYURISHTE, ($1=1.73 Bulgarian Levas) – Russian military equipment loaded with huge trains is moving towards the Russian-Ukrainian border, learned BulgarianMilitary.com, citing its sources in Russia and video footage shared on social networks. This movement of military equipment heightens fears of an alleged Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Videos shared on social media show train-laden anti-aircraft missile systems with medium-range Buk-M1, also known as SA-11 Gadfly, 9S18M1 Kupol acquisition radars known as Snow Drift, tanks, and artillery. This video was recorded on December 6th.

The same video shows a well-known fact used by Russian tactical units during the invasion of Crimea years ago. the Buk-M1 anti-aircraft missile systems have painted and hidden hull identification numbers. The same way of concealing identification is observed among some artillery cannons, as well as among several tanks.

A second video, also posted on social media, shows other train compositions with the same anti-aircraft missile systems, but with radars and launchers TELARs, A39M1 transport-assembly-launching, and reloading vehicles, rocket transporters 9T229 of KrAZ -225 chassis26 of the truck, and 9 transport containers for the system’s missiles. The same footage also includes T-80U tanks and Msta-C self-propelled howitzers.

The social network used to publish the videos is Telegra. Experts from the Conflict Intelligence Team known as CIT assessed the authenticity of the videos and found the following assumptions:

  • Parts of the 4th Guards Panzer Division, the 288th Artillery Brigade, and the 49th Air Defense Missile Brigade are moving to Ukraine, all of which are part of the 1st Guards Panzer Army.
  • Train compositions with Russian military equipment come from Naro-Fominsk in the Moscow region, Ilin in the Nizhny Novgorod region, and Krasnyi Bor in the Smolensk region.
  • The movement of Russian tanks in this part of Russia near Ukraine is not new, but the presence of air defense systems is worrying. The presence of the S-300 air defense system was established in one of the videos.
  • There is a serious movement of logistics and medical units of the Russian army in the area, which BulgarianMilitary.com already announced weeks ago.

According to US intelligence, Moscow has deployed or will deploy about 175,000 troops in the areas around the Russian-Ukrainian border. However, Ukraine claims that this figure is inflated and it is about 100,000 soldiers.

The United States, Ukraine, and other countries claim that Russia is preparing a large-scale infusion in Ukraine, which according to preliminary intelligence reports will occur in early 2022. This information was also quoted by a source in The Washington Post, which is from the administration of US President Joe Biden.

Russian Buk-M1 missile systems with hidden hull IDs moving to Ukraine
Photo credit: Th Drive

Fears of a potential new Russian invasion of Ukraine surfaced in January and have been building up for weeks, although the two countries have conflicted since 2014 when Russia launched an operation to seize the Crimean peninsula before deploying separatist capabilities. eastern Ukraine is fighting against the government in Kyiv.

Meanwhile, Chief of the Defense Staff in the United Kingdom, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, has warned that a full-scale invasion of Ukraine “would be on a scale not seen in Europe since World War Two.”

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