Ominous road markings appear in Ukraine as Russian troops advance
Ukrainians are being urged to destroy a number of markings on roads as the military tries to thwart the efforts of a Russian invasion.
A number of government agencies, including police and the military have shared photos of markings painted on the roads, claiming they have been painted for Russian forces.
The State Agency of Automobile Roads of Ukraine wrote on Facebook urging residents “to fix and destroy similar signs on roads and other infrastructure objects”.
"This is the signal system used by the Russian military, in particular at night. Draw them or sprinkle them with soil, dirt (or) pour resin," the department said.
The markings included crosses and circles painted on roadways.
One man wrote he has spotted a few of them. The Service of Highways in Khmelnytsky asked him “where exactly” he saw them, adding it’s of the “utmost importance”.
So, what are they for?
'Inducing fear': What the markings may mean
Professor of National Security at Curtin University Alexey Muraviev played down suggestions made on social media that they could be targets for ballistics.
“You’re not going to waste precision missiles on any old road,” Professor Muraviev said.
“We have to remember there is a lot of misinformation being thrown around in this space.”
He added Russians have high-tech weapons and called the markings “really strange”.
Professor Muraviev offered another theory.
“It could be about inducing fear,” he said.
“Preliminary analysis of Russia’s approach to this conflict suggests Russia has significant intelligence, aerial and space technology, and ground intelligence units undergoing reconnaissance. They don’t need markings.
“These could be used to create fear especially for residents on the ground with no military experience who might be thinking, ‘Russians are everywhere around the neighbourhood’.”
Professor John Blaxland, at ANU’s Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, offered an “educated guess”.
“(They are) target designations and route markers for use by troops and possibly marked up by saboteurs or fifth columnists,” he said.
Fifth columnists often work as clandestine and aim to undermine larger organisations from within. In this case, Ukraine’s military in the eastern states, declared independent by Russian President Vladimir Putin, have been in conflict with Russian-backed separatists.
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