Russian forces have recently emptied a military depot in the north of illegally annexed Crimea, according to Foreign and Defense Policy Research Analyst at the American Enterprise Institute, Brady Africk.
“The removal of Russian military equipment from this depot in occupied Crimea can be seen clearly when comparing high resolution satellite imagery from Feb. 11 to March 16,” Africk wrote on Twitter.
The satellite imagery provided by Maxar Technologies shows that the depot used to store tanks, armored vehicles, and artillery, but was emptied at some point after Feb. 11.
It's unknown where the equipment was taken to.
The depot is near the village of Medvedivka in northern Crimea, near the transportation hub of Dzhankoi.
The high-resolution imagery also shows some of the defensive structures built in the area.
A few days earlier, on April 3, the Washington Post said that the satellite images show a “web of trenches” built by Russia in the Russian-occupied Crimea likely indicate that the Kremlin fears losing the peninsula.
"The Russian military, apparently, understands that Crimea will have to be defended in the near future," Ian Matveev, a Russian military analyst, told the Washington Post.
Crimea was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, with international community recognizing it as a Ukrainian territory.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has previously pledged that Ukraine will return all occupied territories, including the Crimean peninsula.
Sofiya Doig
(Updated: )
