‘Let us help them get straight to hell’: Ukrainian roads company removes signs to confuse Russians

Company says it wants to stop invading forces finding their away around the country

A Ukrainian road sign company vowed to help get Russian soldiers "straight to hell" by removing directions used by the invading forces to find their way around the country.

Ukravtodor, which is in charge of building and maintaining roads, said it was removing road signs and would be replacing them with messages reading "go f**k yourself back in Russia" as troops attack several cities across the country.

"The enemy has poor communications, they cannot navigate the terrain," it said in a Facebook post. "Let us help them get straight to hell."

The company posted an edited photo of a standard road sign in which directions to nearby cities have been replaced with profanities that could be translated as "Go f**k yourself", "Go f**k yourself again" and "Go f**k yourself back in Russia".

“Let us help them get straight to hell,” the road sign company said (Ukravtodor )

Ukraine’s defence ministry backed the move and called on civilians to remove any signage that might help Russian troops.

“To confuse and disorient the enemy who is illegally moving around Ukraine, we call on [people to] remove signs with numbers and names of streets/cities/villages in their regions,” it said in a tweet.

“Let's do everything possible to get rid of Ukraine from the Russian occupier as soon as possible.”

Fighting continued on Sunday as the war entered its fourth day, with Russian troops entering the key city of Kharkiv - Ukraine's second-largest.

Street fighting broke out in the city and Russian troops put increasing pressure on strategic ports in the country's south following a wave of attacks on airfields and fuel facilities elsewhere, which appeared to mark a new phase of Russia's invasion.

Following its gains on the ground, Russia sent a delegation to Belarus for peace talks with Ukraine, according to the Kremlin.

Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine's president, said on Sunday his country was ready for peace talks with Russia but rejected the offer to hold them in Belarus, calling it an invasion staging ground.

A Ukrainian serviceman and his dog stands in a position looking at smoke from a burned petroleum storage depot in Kharkiv (EPA)

Mr Zelensky offered alternate locations in Europe such as Warsaw, Bratislava, Budapest or Baku to hold the negotiations.

“We want to talk, we want to end the war,” he said in a video to the Russian leaders, adding that the talks can be held, but only in a country “from which missiles aren’t flying”.