Russian forces are building a new bypass road in Russian-occupied Mariupol in Ukraine’s Donetsk region. The project is not being promoted by Russian state media, as the route may be intended for military vehicles and cargo.
The new bypass could turn the city into a convenient hub to bolster a future Russian push, Petro Andryushchenko, head of the Center for the Study of Occupation, said on his Telegram channel on September 17.
“Quietly. No cameras. No propagandists’ visits. Every logistics project that truly matters for the war is done in silence,” Andryushchenko said.
According to him, these roads are not for civilians but for columns of military equipment and freight. The bypass would speed the redeployment of Russian forces and cut logistics times, effectively turning the city into a hub for new offensives.
“But there’s one difference. We see everything. We definitely have more agents. And none of their ‘bypasses’ in Mariupol will escape our eyes,” the CSO chief added.
On September 8, Andryushchenko said Russia is building a new military facility at the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, and that a power line to it is being drawn from the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.
On September 2, the head of the Center for the Study of Occupation reported another successful strike by Ukraine’s Defense Forces on part of Russia’s air-defense infrastructure in Mariupol, saying garages with military equipment were hit.
On August 28, Andryushchenko warned that draining the Pavlopil Reservoir in Donetsk region could trigger an environmental disaster, creating a dry, saline riverbed at Mariupol’s mouth and causing fish die-offs.
