The transport of Russian military equipment toward Zaporizhzhia Oblast through occupied Mariupol in Donetsk Oblast has "sharply increased" in scale, said Petro Andriushchenko, an adviser to the city's exiled mayor, on July 29.
The news comes days after a Ukrainian military spokesperson confirmed that Russia is building up its forces in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, sending at least 2,000 more troops there within the last few weeks.
While Russia has amassed some 90,000 troops in the area, intelligence suggests that a significant change in the nature of hostilities in the oblast would be unlikely, the spokesperson added at the time.
The Russian military moved equipment – mainly tracked vehicles – toward Zaporizhzhia Oblast over the weekend, pausing near the villages of Manhush and Nikolske in Donetsk Oblast, according to Andriushchenko.
The Kyiv Independent could not verify these claims.
The official said that Russian equipment was marked in a new way, with a symbol of a triangle inside another triangle. The vehicles and fuel tanks moving towards the occupied city of Berdiansk in Zaporizhzhia Oblast were marked with these symbols.
Russian troops also began amassing personnel and equipment at the Mariupol Metallurgical Plant, Andriushchenko said.
"They (Russian troops) are actively using 'false civilian' 20-ton white trucks to transport manpower. This is the first time we have recorded this during the occupation," he added.
Over the past few months, Russian troops have been creating a military and logistics hub in Mariupol, setting up military bases, filling warehouses, and building a line of fortifications to defend the city, local authorities reported earlier.
Mariupol came under siege by Russian forces between February and May 2022, leaving thousands dead and reducing the city to rubble.
According to authorities' rough estimates, at least 25,000 people may have been killed during the siege of Mariupol. The exact number remains unknown and could be much higher.
Daria Shulzhenko
(Updated: )
