Images show new deployment of military vehicles, troop tents in southern Belarus, company says

Satellite images taken on Tuesday indicate a new deployment of military vehicles and troop tents in southern Belarus, a space technology company said.

As Russia last week claimed that it was pulling back some of its military forces near Ukraine, Maxar Technologies said the images indicate a new deployment of military equipment in southern Belarus less than 30 miles from the Ukrainian border. The New York Times notes that the deployment is likely Russian.

“A new deployment consisting of more than 100 vehicles and dozens of troop tents/shelters is seen today (February 22nd) at a small airfield (known as the V.D. Bolshoy Bokov aerodrome) near Mozyr in southern Belarus,” Maxar said in a statement regarding the satellite imagery.

The New York Times reported that the southern Belarus location has been active for roughly around a week, citing an analysis of previous satellite photos from the area.

Maxar also said that it had satellite imagery showing new developments in western Russia. 

“Several new deployments of troops and equipment have been established in rural areas southwest of Belgorod,” a little more than 10 miles “to the northwest of the border with Ukraine,” Mazar said.

“Heavy equipment transporters (HETs), used for transporting tanks, artillery and heavy equipment are noted on the western outskirts of Klintsy,” it added, about 25 miles “to the east of the border with Ukraine.”

The development comes just days after officials confirmed that military drills between Russia and Belarus would be extended past Sunday, when they had been set to expire, amid escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

Since then, two breakaway areas of eastern Ukraine have been recognized by Russia as independent, and Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that military forces would be entering the areas. Prior to Russia’s moves, officials had estimated that up to 190,000 Russian troops were deployed near Ukraine and the moves on Monday only heightened anxiety about military escalations between Russia and Ukraine.

In remarks in the East Room on Tuesday, President Biden said that the moves represented “the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine” and announced that the U.S. would be sanctioning certain Russian entities and moving more troops to the Baltic states to bolster the eastern flank of NATO.

“He’s setting up a rationale to take more territory by force, in my view. And if we listen to his speech last night … he’s setting up a rationale to go much further,” Biden said. “This is the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine, as he indicated and asked permission to be able to do from his Duma.”

–Updated at 12:11 p.m.