Volodymyr Tymoshko arrived on July 16, 2014, in Kramatorsk and Sloviansk. It had been just under two weeks since Ukrainian troops had regained control of the two towns that became the epicenter of the start of the war in the country's east.
The Police general was to lead the official investigation into the events when paramilitary groups occupied most of the Donbass region with Moscow's support.
On April 17, Russian President Vladimir Putin denied any involvement of his forces in the conflict. "There are no Russian units in eastern Ukraine. Neither special forces nor instructors. They are all local citizens," he declared.
Tymoshko had already dealt with separatist forces encouraged by Moscow in Kharkiv, the country's second-largest city, where he was stationed. There, he participated with National Guard troops in the eviction of several dozen activists who proclaimed the People's Republic of Kharkiv on April 7, 2014, after occupying the regional government the day before. "It lasted less than a day," he recalls sitting in his office in Chernihiv, where he now serves as the top security official.
During the interrogations of the dozens of detainees involved in that short-lived operation, Tymoshko discovered behavioral patterns that he later encountered in the Donbass. "Many were individuals who had been in prison or had alcohol and drug problems. They were brought by a group of people who crossed the border from Russia on buses and urged them to occupy the building. Once inside, they turned towards Russia," he explains.
"There was Motorola [Arsen Pavlov, a Russian paramilitary leader who would later be involved in the war in the Donbass]," he adds.
"Our investigation led us to speak with detainees, analyze the documents they left behind when they withdrew, and visit the places where they had stayed. The conclusion was indisputable, and my thesis is that the preparation for the occupation of the Donbass did not begin in 2014, after the Maidan uprising [the popular uprising that led to the fleeing of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych], but much earlier, perhaps after the Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008," comments the officer.
The Donbass, along with Crimea, was the initial target of Putin's offensive after losing his ally in power. Today, that region - occupied by Russian troops in almost 80% - remains the main target of his strategy in Ukraine.
In addition to examining buildings like the Sloviansk City Hall or the Police headquarters in that city - which were used by the militiamen as bases - the investigations by the police team under Tymoshko's command led him to a dependency of the Orthodox Church under the Moscow Patriarchate, a chalet called Villa Maria, which played a key role in the operation coordinated by Russia.
"About a hundred Russians crossed the border dressed as civilians, as if they were tourists. They had no weapons. They went straight to Villa Maria. That's where they had left the uniforms and weapons with which they appeared on the streets of Sloviansk," the officer specifies.
Villa Maria, he adds, had been rented in 2010. "Church employees were involved in the preparation, including a priest who later became one of the leaders of the armed groups," he adds.
The main religious leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill I, is a key ally of Putin and has often used his spiritual influence to endorse the occupation of Ukraine.
The paramilitaries appeared equipped with machine guns and RPGs (anti-tank weapons), which they claimed to have obtained from Police armories. "But we do not have RPGs. We checked each of the weapons they left behind when they withdrew, and none were registered in Ukraine. They came from Russia," he says.
The Ukrainian agents in charge of the investigation also came across another seemingly anecdotal detail that confirmed their suspicions. "The armed groups had Novorossiya insignias [the name Moscow gives to several regions of Ukraine that it claims as its own] and separatist flags from the first or second day. We found that there was no factory in Sloviansk or Kramatorsk that could have prepared them. They brought all those emblems from Russia," Tymoshko proclaims.
During the investigation process, the Ukrainian agents detained nearly 400 people involved in the uprising. "Most were exchanged for Ukrainian prisoners", Tymoshko points out.
The security forces general drew a lesson that, he says, European nations should incorporate in this new era "where the law of the jungle prevails." "Russia is an expert in hybrid warfare. How long until a group of people appears in a Baltic country or anywhere else waving a flag and claiming they want independence?" he wonders.
Then he goes back in time. "Russia learned that Europe lacks the courage to confront it. It understood this when it invaded Georgia. When it saw that nothing happened, it began to think about invading Ukraine," he concludes.