Spot Report: Smoke-generating device thrown close to SMM vehicle near Dokuchaievsk

On 17 May an SMM patrol consisting of five members in two armoured vehicles was in the north-eastern outskirts of “DPR”-controlled Dokuchaievsk (30km south-west of Donetsk) heading west behind a green military-type truck (KamAZ-4350) with plate number DK-1823. The SMM patrol saw six men wearing military-style clothes on board the truck in the back of the cargo compartment.

At 13:47, when the first SMM vehicle was at a distance of 50 metres from the truck, the patrol saw one of the men on board throw an unidentified device, possibly a smoke grenade, which landed some ten metres in front of the first SMM vehicle; the device was burning and generating white smoke. The SMM patrol bypassed the device, eventually overtook the truck and proceeded to the nearest known safe place in Dokuchaievsk.

At 14:20, on its way back to the base, the same SMM patrol made a stop at the incident location and saw burn marks on the asphalt and on the grass next to it but did not find remnants of any device. The SMM returned safely to its base in Donetsk city and no SMM vehicles were damaged. The SMM informed the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination (JCCC) about the incident.