Russian Troop Increase and Military Convoys Carrying Ammo Recorded Near Mariupol

Approximately 5,000 newly arrived Russian soldiers, reportedly deployed from the Caucasus region, have been spotted within the Mariupol district, along with large convoys of military trucks bound for the Azov Sea port city of Berdyansk, likely carrying ammunition.

“We’ve recorded a significant increase in the number of Russians in the Mariupol district, adding about 5,000 more troops,” Petro Andryushchenko, advisor to Mariupol’s exiled mayor, posted via Telegram on Tuesday, Aug. 22.

These troops are believed to have been primarily brought in for restaffing and coordination efforts, Andryushchenko said.

Further indications of escalated military activity include the substantial movement of trucks laden with ammunition toward the occupied town of Berdyansk.

Notably, a distinctive new marking for military equipment has been seen—a “white rhombus” diamond-shaped emblem.

In related news, a Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) operation on Monday, Aug. 14, targeted a Russian command post situated in the Mariupol vicinity, resulting in the admission of around 50 Russian soldiers to a city hospital in Mariupol, where at least 13 of them died from their injuries.

Vadym Boychenko, the Ukrainian mayor-in-exile for the city, said the strike targeted a military facility in the village of Yurivka.

Boychenko also claimed another hospital in the village of Manhush near Mariupol was also filled with injured Russians, five of whom died.

Other Topics of Interest

UK Estimates Russian War Casualties at 450,000

The figure is only slightly lower than Kyiv’s official estimates, where the UK Minister of Armed Forces said there were “tens of thousands more have deserted” not included in the estimation.

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion several months ago, Russian forces seized control of Mariupol and the surrounding region, establishing the city as a fortified military stronghold.

Reports of sabotage activities by Ukrainian partisans in the area have become increasingly frequent, with a focus on disrupting concentrations of Russian troops and their equipment.