Russia is gathering more and more military forces on the border with Ukraine. You can see the white “Z” on tanks and trucks. This is a non-standard way of marking vehicles, which causes bewilderment among specialists.
Commentators noted identification marks on military equipment. There are many theories as to what they mean. Arik Toller of the Bellingcat investigative reporting team said vehicle marking is an unorthodox activity for the Russian military. “I assume the worst,” he wrote.
Re: the “Zorro Squad”, or all the Russian military vehicles that (starting today) have Latin Z’s painted on their sides. Ruslan has been monitoring this stuff nonstop for 8 years and has no idea what they are, and hasn’t seen it before. So, assume the worst, I guess/fear. https://t.co/PsiWQLjjDX
— Aric Toler (@AricToler) February 20, 2022
Some see such markings as similar to World War II. At that time, such markings were intended for aviation in order to prevent bombardment of units.
Among other explanations, there are those that say that this sign is the designation of the region in which the vehicle will be sent into battle.
Shooting in the Donbass
Another day pro – Russian forces are firing at Donbass . They use prohibited artillery. According to the Ukrainian army, by noon today, pro-Russian militants carried out 30 attacks, 26 of them with artillery. Yesterday there were 136 such shells, most of them also with the use of weapons prohibited under the Minsk peace agreements.
Another military column in Belgorod with a Msta-B howitzer and “Z” markings. https://t.co/zYryEBPi53 pic.twitter.com/wj6ZX2UsxV
— Rob Lee (@RALee85) February 19, 2022
One Ukrainian serviceman was wounded today. At the same time, the Ukrainian side warns of possible provocations that Russia is preparing. From there, representatives of Russian services are sent to areas occupied by pro-Russian separatists to prepare terrorist attacks against civilians.