London: Sophisticated Russian weapons including surveillance radar, rocket launchers and tanks have been spotted in the hands of separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine, an expert report has found.

The separatists were rapidly growing to resemble a conventional army, rather than a guerilla force, one of the authors of the armaments survey said.

"There is significant material of Russian origin, including material that is of comparatively high military value and was only recently manufactured," Nic Jenzen-Jones, director of Armament Research Services, an Australian military consultant firm, says.

"The material we found indicates that there's probably some level of complicity from Russian government or military officials. Whether that's organised at the highest levels or conducted by independent parties near the Ukrainian border is impossible to say."

The report, titled "Raising Red Flags", adds to mounting evidence that Russia is directly supplying and supporting the rebels trying to create a pro-Russian independent state in Ukraine – a claim Russia's government has repeatedly denied.

And it suggests Russia has been boosting the separatist forces in recent months, giving them more powerful and more sophisticated weaponry.

Some in Ukraine fear they are preparing for a winter assault, although one military expert told Fairfax Media it was more likely aimed at "freezing" the conflict and preventing Ukraine from regaining its lost territory.

Using photos sourced from mainstream media, social media and from people on the ground in Ukraine, the research team spent months identifying more than 100 distinct weapons systems, 60 types of munitions and 70 models of armoured fighting vehicle, from February 2012 onwards.

They concentrated on "flag weapons": those unusual enough to give a strong indication as to their origin and purpose. These include battle tanks and surveillance radar produced in Russia and not owned by the Ukraine government before the outbreak of hostilities.

Other "flag items" include man-portable air-defence systems, rocket launchers and anti-tank guided weapons.

"The bulk of those [flag items] are produced in the Russian Federation," Mr Jenzen-Jones said. "A lot of those items are only known to be in the Russian military inventory and they're not known to have been exported, or they are only known to have been exported in limited numbers to limited customers."

Items that stood out include an anti-tank guided weapon, the 9K135 Kornet.

Another was a shoulder-fired rocket launcher, the MRO-A, which Mr Jenzen-Jones said was "not known to be in service outside of the Russian Federation, so that's interesting, and we've seen them sizeable quantities, as opposed to one or two here and there".

Two armoured fighting vehicles the team spotted in eastern Ukraine, the T-72B3 and the BTR-82AM, are only known to have entered Russian military service in the past two years.

"You would think that if one of those went missing from a Russian military inventory that would be cause for concern," Mr Jenzen-Jones said.

And they have identified two models of battlefield surveillance radar, used to pinpoint enemy artillery.

"They represent a significant capability upgrade - it allows them to conduct tasks that are more akin to what a conventional military fighting force would do," he said.

"In recent weeks, we have observed an influx of more heavy artillery, particularly 152-millimetre systems such as the 2A65 howitzer, to pro-Russian separatist groups in eastern Ukraine. That, combined with battlefield surveillance radar ... gives them an increased capability to ensure their artillery fire is accurate and effective."

There is even evidence of electronic warfare, with reports of military-grade GPS jamming.

Ukraine's army still had the edge in tanks, artillery, troops and air superiority, Mr Jenzen-Jones said.

However, a recent rebel upgrade of their anti-aircraft missiles to new self-propelled systems would be "of particular concern to the Ukrainian government".

Mr Jenzen-Jones said his team could not add much to the known facts about what shot down the MH17 passenger plane in July, warning that many of the comments he had seen in the press were "good logical guesses, not founded in evidence ... we've stuck to what we can say with certainty about the incident, which is not very much".

European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said Ukraine was high on the European Union agenda, and European foreign ministers were due to discuss the conflict again this week, with further sanctions on the agenda.

"Russia must stop the inflow of weapons and troops from its territory into Ukraine and Russia must withdraw those already present," Mr Van Rompuy said.

However, he said the EU "continues to believe that there can only be political solution to the crisis".

In Ukraine, work has begun to remove the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 from rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine and the West accuse Russia of supplying pro-Moscow rebels with the missile that shot down the Boeing 777 as it flew from Amsterdam en route to Kuala Lumpur on July 17, killing 298 people, including 38 Australians.

with AFP