A plan for the detention of a group of mercenaries suspected of participating in hostilities in Donbas prepared by the Defense Intelligence Agency of Ukraine's Ministry of Defense, was approved by the political officials of Ukraine in July 2020, the Bellingcat investigators said.

"According to three former security officers who spoke to Bellingcat, including the former director of GUR MOU Vasily Burba, presented to end and approved by Ukraine's political leadership in early July 2020. It included the capture and detention of 33 mercenaries by staging the emergency landing on Ukrainian soil of an aircraft carrying the targets to their fictitious deployment destination," the investigators said in the report.