Ukraine crisis: Satellite images show new military deployment in southern Belarus close to Kiev

Satellite images show deployment of 100 military vehicles and dozens of troop tents in southern Belarus

New satellite images shared by a US company have reportedly revealed a new deployment of 100 military vehicles and dozens of troop tents in southern Belarus near the Ukraine border.

The images released by Maxar Technology showed a new field hospital was also added to a military garrison in western Russia close to the border with Ukraine, the company said in a statement.

The satellite images released on Tuesday seemingly point to fresh movement from Russia, but could not be independently verified by Reuters.

Maxar, which has been tracking Russian troop movement near the border with Ukraine for weeks, added that the images showed some equipment was also deployed near Belgorod, Soloti and Valuyki in Russia.

The development comes as US president Joe Biden on Tuesday announced “full blocking sanctions” against Russia in response to actions in eastern Ukraine that he said amounted to a “flagrant violation of international law”.

The US had said that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was already underway after president Vladimir Putin recognised the separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent and ordered troops into eastern Ukraine that he said were to maintain “peace”.

In a video statement on Wednesday, Mr Putin said while Moscow was looking for “diplomatic solutions”, his country’s interests were “non-negotiable”.

“Our country is always open for direct and honest dialogue, for the search for diplomatic solutions to the most complex problems. The interests of Russia, the security of our citizens, are non-negotiable for us,” Mr Putin said as he delivered his address on “Defender of the Fatherland Day”.

This Tuesday, 22 February 2022 satellite imagery provided by Maxar Technologies shows new deployments of troops and equipment that have been established in rural areas southwest of Belgorod, less than 20km to the northwest of the border with Ukraine (Satellite image 2022 Maxar Technologies via AP)

The deployment is at a field approximately 15km (9 miles) north of the Ukrainian border.

Maxar said several new field deployments were also visible northwest of Belgorod.

Another photo showed Russia clearing large swathes of land and parking its military units in those clearings.

A handout satellite image made available by Maxar Technologies shows an overview of land clearing and new deployment in Pochep, Russia, 22 February 2022 (Satellite image 2022 Maxar Technologies/EPA)

Russian forces have also used industrial areas for this in the past 48 hours.

An image near Pochep showed troop tents and military vehicles in the vicinity with some more military units expected to be on the way.

The US-based company had earlier on Sunday released a batch of satellite images showing Russian deployments near the border with Ukraine. This previous batch of images could not be verified by Reuters either.

“This new activity represents a change in the pattern of the previously observed deployments of battle groups [tanks, armoured personnel carriers, artillery and support equipment],” Maxar had said in a release on Sunday.

Stephen Wood, senior director at the Maxar News Bureau, had said on Sunday that the troop movement indicated “an increased state of readiness.”