TIK TOK VIDEOS
The TikTok buildup: Videos reveal Russian forces closing in on Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin and top Russian officials for months have been denying that Moscow is preparing to mount an invasion of neighboring Ukraine. But videos posted to TikTok and other social media platforms tell another story.
In areas of Russia and Belarus near the Ukrainian border, onlookers have uploaded hundreds of videos showing sophisticated Russian weaponry and military vehicles speeding by on railways, highways and local roads toward positions near Ukraine.
In recent days, those videos have begun worrying military analysts. The scenes, the military analysts say, appear to indicate that the Russian buildup could be entering its final stages before an invasion. Here is what they are watching.
Movement to final staging areas
Videos have emerged of Russian armored fighting vehicles driving on roads. Generally, tanks and other armored vehicles are transported long distances by train and then shorter distances by flatbed truck. “You don’t see mechanized units driving down the road unless they are getting near final staging areas,” said Michael Kofman, a Russian military analyst at the Virginia-based research group CNA. “Once you see tanks and infantry fighting vehicles under their own power driving down a road, it means they are not far from where they are intending to be.”
Videos posted on social media also appear to show units from Russia’s 41st Combined Arms Army — which had been gathering in Yelnya, about 160 miles from the Ukrainian border — moving south toward Ukraine in the area around the Russian city of Klintsy, less than 62 miles from the border. “They are deploying toward what we call a final staging area,” Kofman said. “That’s important."
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TikTok videos show Russian forces advancing closer to Ukraine - The Washington Post
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