Newly released satellite images of the Russia-Georgia border reportedly huge numbers of Russian civilians attempting to flee the country.
The startling images come after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the 'partial mobilization' of reservists to fight his "special military operation" in Ukraine.
Speaking in a nationally televised address on September 21, Putin revealed that he would be deploying up to 300,000 reservists over the coming months to fight in Ukraine - more than double the size of the initial force that was deployed during the February invasion, Al Jazeera reports.
The announcement came after Ukrainian forces launched a sudden counterattack, recapturing the Kharkiv province and forcing Russian forces to retreat.
Putin had stated that a partial mobilization would be "fully adequate to the threats we face."
Now, Maxar Technologies has released several satellite images reportedly showing miles-long queues of traffic as thousands of people attempt to flee the nation.
In a Facebook post sharing the images, Maxar Technologies wrote: "Satellite imagery from September 25, 2022 shows a large traffic jam of vehicles leaving Russia and attempting to cross the border into Georgia, at the Lars checkpoint, following Russian President Putin’s mobilization order for the war in Ukraine."
A second post shared images taken on Tuesday, explaining: "Our latest satellite imagery, from today, September 27, along the Russia-Georgia border and the extensive (approximately 16 km in length) traffic jam approaching the Upper Lars border checkpoint (lat/lon: 42.768, 44.631) as well as the Lars border crossing (lat/lon: 42.740, 44.627).
"Today’s imagery provides a focused look at the checkpoints with hundreds of trucks, cars, vehicles and people waiting nearby as well as the continued traffic jam along the highway leading to the border."
The images have since been covered by outlets such as Sky News and Insider.
This is just the latest response to Putin's startling announcement last week.
A top Google trend in Russia following Putin's televised announcement was "как сломать руку в домашни? условия?" or "how to break an arm at home," a Newsweek report detailed - revealing that everyday Russians would resort to extremely dramatic means if it meant they could avoid being sent to fight.
Additionally, one-way flights out of the country were reportedly completely sold out within hours of Putin's announcement - and prices even tripled within that time. A one-way flight from Moscow to Turkey that once cost 22,000 roubles ($370 USD) soon cost upwards of 70,000 roubles ($1,180 USD), per a previous report.
Young Russians have even taken to video sharing platform, TikTok, to let their feelings on partial mobilization be known. Russian influencer, Gleb, posted a short clip in which he stated: "It's not my choice to be born in this country. Yesterday, we had sad news about partial mobilization [...] I don't want to get drafted."
Russia is currently being under investigation for over "30,000 war crimes", according to Ukraine's prosecutor general, Andriy Kostin. These war crimes include murder, mass systematic rape, torture, and wanton destruction of cities and towns, per Forbes.