The white circle marking, one in every of many to have been noticed close to Belgorod:
And extra white circles, this time stuffed in, and utilized on self-propelled artillery:
In at the least one occasion, nevertheless, a T-90 tank unit has been famous with a pink triangle along with a numeral. One chance right here is that the pink signifies the Guard standing of the unit in query — an honorific title bestowed upon Russian navy models with notably notable fight information.
Already, there have been another hypotheses about what these totally different markings would possibly truly signify. In keeping with one account on the Russian Telegram social media community, ‘Z’ is used on automobiles headed towards Kharkiv, a triangle for models going within the route of Slavyansk and Kramatorsk, whereas the circle is used for these belonging to the cellular reserve. There isn’t any affirmation of this, at current, and such markings are, by their nature, not meant to be clearly decipherable to outdoors observers.
Probably complicated the matter additional is imagery that exhibits multiple of those markings on the identical automobile, as seen on these pontoon bridge automobiles:
With Russia and Ukraine working most of the similar, or related, navy automobiles, including some form of distinguished identification good friend or foe (IFF) marking to scale back the chance of ‘pleasant hearth’ would additionally make sense, however wouldn’t clarify the usage of totally different markings, which recommend a form of codification. Additionally, historically, IFF could be higher standardized and simpler to see at lengthy distances or from the air.
There are additionally another theories doing the rounds on social media, though these are equally speculative.
There was a suggestion that the ‘Z’ image refers to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and even the Russian ultranationalist politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky. Each these explanations appear surprisingly literal and never one thing that native commanders would essentially authorize. Moreover, the letter ‘Z’ doesn’t seem within the Cyrillic alphabet, including one other layer of thriller.
Different, seemingly extra fanciful explanations level to ‘Z’ as the ultimate letter of the Latin alphabet, suggesting an ‘finish recreation’ or ‘remaining vacation spot’ for the Russian forces concerned.
It’s additionally vital to notice that not all the automobiles bearing these markings belong to the Russian Army. Additionally famous have been vehicles from Rosgvardia, Russia’s Nationwide Guard, the roles of which embrace securing borders, counter-terrorism, defending public order, and guarding vital state services. These automobiles have additionally been seen with the now-familiar ‘Z’ marking revealing, on the very least, that Rosgvardia is anticipated to be concerned in any wider intervention in Ukraine.
Regardless of the that means of those symbols, and for now, at the least, accounts we’ve seen are totally speculative, their sudden look does appear to point the potential for some main new improvement within the present marketing campaign. With so many automobiles already gathered in areas near Ukraine’s borders, it’s hardly stunning that these unexpectedly utilized markings are being taken as proof of a possible escalation on this newest Russian intervention in Ukraine.
Contact the creator: thomas@thedrive.com
