Donetsk, Aug 12 - DAN. Nine airborne assault vehicles (BMD-1) of the Ukrainian army’s 72th Separate Mechanized Brigade have been spotted in the Petrovskoye-Bogdanovka disengagement area, the Donetsk People’s Republic People’s Militia reported on Thursday.

The deployment of seven BTR-DG airborne multi-purpose tracked armored personnel carriers to the Bogdanovka area has been recorded as well, the DPR militia said.

BMD-1 is a Soviet airborne amphibious tracked infantry fighting vehicle. It is standard equipment for airborne troops. It can be dropped by parachute or flown in by AN-12 or Il-76 military transport planes. BMD-1 was introduced into service in 1969.

The Ukraine-controlled Bogdanovka village is located next to the contact line some 40 kilometers southeast of Donetsk. It accommodates one of the three pilot zones in Donbass for the disengagement of forces and hardware. The framework agreement on disengagement was signed in 2016. Back then, the first attempt was made to disengage the forces of the DPR and Ukraine, but the latter returned its troops to the old positions later on. It was only in November 2019 that the disengagement was fully completed; however, Ukrainian troops remain active in the area.*jk