The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine also observed a series of military vehicles and masked, armed men in central Luhansk.

The exact reason for the sudden “invasion” of little green men in Luhansk is not clear, but the event is likely related to a power struggle between Plotnitsky and Kornet after the former fired the police chief. This conflict is not just between the two strongmen of Luhansk, but also serves as a proxy war between Russian and Donetsk authorities. The Ukrainian news outlet Depo.ua called the Luhansk conflict “Surkov versus the FSB,” putting the support of the Russian security services (FSB) with the ousted police chief Kornet, and the support of the Kremlin’s point person in the Donbas, Vladislav Surkov, with Plotnitsky.

Donetsk Invades Luhansk

The dispute between Plotnitsky and Kornet does not end with Surkov and the FSB, as is evidenced by the arrival of soldiers and military equipment from the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR). One open source investigator noticed a military vehicle photographed in Luhansk had the word “Chechen” (Чечен) and the number 771 on it — the same numbering sequence and word used by military equipment of a DNR “Spetsnaz” brigade loyal to DNR “leader” and strongman Aleksandr Zakharchenko.

Eventually, Twitter user @5urpher found the exact BTR 771 in an old photograph with DNR Spetsnaz forces.

Subsequently, reports surfaced that over a dozen tanks from the Somalia Battalion — a Donetsk/Makiivka-based tank unit ran by Mikhail “Givi” Tolstykh before his death — entered Luhansk.

While there were no direct photographs or videos of these tanks, the rumor seems to have credibility when corroborated with a video that surfaced in a Luhansk Vkontakte (VK) group showing dozens of military vehicles, including Kamaz trucks, entering Luhansk. The vehicles were reportedly from Donetsk.