{"id":17115,"date":"2022-02-26T23:18:18","date_gmt":"2022-02-26T23:18:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/02\/26\/ukrainian-road-agency-urging-removal-of-signs-posts-fake-photo-with-colorful-message-for-russia\/"},"modified":"2022-02-26T23:18:18","modified_gmt":"2022-02-26T23:18:18","slug":"ukrainian-road-agency-urging-removal-of-signs-posts-fake-photo-with-colorful-message-for-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/02\/26\/ukrainian-road-agency-urging-removal-of-signs-posts-fake-photo-with-colorful-message-for-russia\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukrainian road agency, urging removal of signs, posts fake photo with colorful message for Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The photo of the blue road sign was altered to state, \u201cGo f— yourselves,\u201d in three different ways.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cLet\u2019s help them get straight to hell,\u201d the agency wrote on Facebook<\/a>. \u201cUkravtodor calls on all road organizations, territorial communities, local governments to immediately begin dismantling nearby road signs.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A spokesperson with Ukravtodor did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The advisory comes as outgunned Ukrainian forces are holding on to their capital and other cities amid attacks by Russian forces in recent days. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the fate of the nation is \u201cbeing decided right now\u201d and that Ukraine is \u201csuccessfully repelling\u201d attacks in Kyiv. Ukraine\u2019s health minister said that a total of 198 Ukrainians have been killed in the fighting, while another 100,000 citizens have fled to Poland, with at least as many<\/a> displaced internally.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Leaders throughout Ukraine have pleaded with citizens and other nations to support them in the fight. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko begged other nations to immediately intervene against the assault that he said has killed civilians. Vladyslav Atroshenko, mayor of the northern city of Chernigov, has called upon able-bodied civilians to take up arms to defend their city.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cPeople, men, with weapons, capable to protect with your own weapon our city, please come to the place of deployment to receive your instructions,\u201d he said in a video shared on Facebook<\/a>. \u201cToday, all that we can, for the organization of the defense of the city \u2014 we won\u2019t give up the city to anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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As fighting continues on the ground, <\/b>travel on the nation\u2019s roads has grown increasingly precarious. Klitschko, who has urged people to stay in shelters for protection from potential air raids, said that movement within Kyiv would continue to be restricted<\/a> because of roadblocks. In the western city of Lviv, cranes moved huge concrete blocks onto roads<\/a> leading into the city Saturday. Volunteers filled and stacked sandbags in an attempt to fortify Lviv, once considered a safe haven, against a Russian attack.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Some researchers tracking troops and shelter for civilians have used Google Maps<\/a> as a tool for visualizing the military action in recent days. In the hours following the initial invasion Thursday, data on Google Maps showed road closures near the northeastern city of Kharkiv and traffic stalled because of closures of roads out of Kyiv. Through Google Maps, which analyzes phone movements to estimate road traffic, researchers were able to estimate when civilians in cars were probably being stopped at roadblocks, while military vehicles passed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Ukravtodor has also used Google Maps to alert citizens about Russian forces on the roads. The agency announced <\/a>Friday that the government had created a specialized bot system using Google Maps <\/b>to report x-shaped marks that officials say Russian troops are putting on the roads. The agency wrote that the system, which involves Ukrainians taking photos of the marks, can \u201cconvey information about the relocation of enemies.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cOur efforts are now aimed at helping the peaceful population. Women, children, elderly and sick people.. . . need a safe way to the shelters,\u201d Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Alexander Kubrakov said in a Saturday statement posted to Facebook<\/a>. \u201cOur team is developing routes to bypass places where fighting and shelling are taking place, and direct the transport of civilians away from danger.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Ukravtodor is urging all Ukrainians to \u201cblock the enemy by all available methods!\u201d Some of the methods listed by the agency include burning trees, burning tires and building barricades against the Russian forces.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThe occupant must understand that he is not expected here and will be resisted on every street, every road!\u201d the agency wrote <\/a>on social media. \u201cLet them be afraid to even look in the direction of our cities! Together to victory! The occupier will be destroyed!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The fake sign photo capturing real Ukrainian anger <\/b>spread widely on Facebook, shared nearly 40,000 times as of Saturday. On social media, users posted both real and fake photos of signs in roads, businesses and towns telling Russian forces to \u201cf— off.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Christo Grozev, a Bulgarian journalist and executive director of the Netherlands-based outlet Bellingcat, tweeted<\/a> on how the road agency had taken its call to remove signs \u201cone step further\u201d by also sharing the fake photo.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThe \u2026 sign is clearly their illustrative joke, not real street signs (for now at least),\u201d Grozev wrote.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Rachel Lerman and Loveday Morris contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n