Bomb shelter signs have appeared on the streets of Russian cities near the border with Ukraine as well as in more far-flung locations, the independent news site Holod reported Sunday.
Around 700 signs are expected to be installed by early December in the city of Belgorod near the Ukrainian border, Mayor Valentin Demidov has said.
Installing signs that point out bomb shelters marks a “second stage” in civil defense preparations, according to Demidov.
“In the first stage, we inspected every site that can perform this function and documented responsibilities for granting access and monitoring the condition of the shelters,” Demidov said.
Residents also started noticing bomb shelter signs in Rostov-on-Don, some 150 kilometers east of the occupied Ukrainian port city of Mariupol.
The head of Russia’s Security Council had ordered a full inventory of bomb shelters in regions near the Ukrainian border in April.
President Vladimir Putin two weeks ago convened the first in-person Security Council meeting since the start of the invasion, where he discussed civil defense preparations.
Authorities in Russia’s border regions including Belgorod have claimed drone, missile and artillery attacks on their soil in the months since Russian troops invaded Ukraine.
Further from the Ukrainian border in southwestern Siberia, 3,000 bomb shelter signs have been installed by municipal workers in the steel city of Novokuznetsk.
Around 16,500 bomb shelters are estimated to be scattered across Russia. Independent media previously reported that their locations are classified and hidden from the public.
Authorities in Moscow were reported to have ordered a design template for bomb shelter signs last month as residents began spotting makeshift signs on residential buildings.
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