At dawn Thursday, Vladimir Putin announces the launch of a “special military operation”.
Bombardments target the ground/air defenses to ensure air supremacy for the Russian army.
At the same time, armored columns are advancing from Russia and Belarus.
On many tanks, armored vehicles or personnel carriers, a mysterious "
Z
" sign is inscribed.
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Several theories are emerging to explain this white mark painted on the sides of vehicles, although its exact meaning remains uncertain.
Some evoke the first letter of the name of the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, but others recall that the Z does not exist in the Cyrillic alphabet.
Several military experts have explained to British media that this sign is used to distinguish Russian armor from Ukrainians, since they are often similar.
This method had already been used during the Second World War to avoid Allied fire, both on the ground and from the air.
The American specialist in Russian defense policy, Rob Lee, believed that this sign corresponds to an area to be occupied.
"It seems that the Russian forces on the border wear symbols marked with white paint, here a Z, in order to identify the various intervention groups",
he tweeted on February 20.
If some are amused by the meaning of this Z, calling these armored
vehicles "zorro vehicles
", others fear that it means
"zakhodiom"
:
"We enter".