Ukraine’s soldiers and citizen volunteers who have picked up arms and weapons to defend their country against the Russian invasion are now faced with a new security concern. Saboteur elements of the Russian military have now started wearing a distinct yellow band in an attempt to infiltrate and mix in with Ukrainians who wear the bands for easy identification and to avoid “friendly fire”.

To counter this, Ukraine has now shifted to blue - the other colour of their bicolour flag. Even cars are now being marked with blue tape. Earlier, they had just switched sides - left to right. But now, the colour, too, has been changed.

“The move was made to identify saboteurs and to tell friend from foe and it has changed several times in the past few weeks,” Phillip, a citizen volunteer, told India Today TV.

“This does cause some confusion. But there are forces within Ukraine supporting the war effort. There are volunteers who have been offered special treatment on the roads (by the Russians). So they have offered their own armbands. The blue band was introduced just yesterday. But now everyone’s wearing the blue armbands on their right, which means the volunteers will have to think of something else. It causes a bit of confusion, but it is all to prevent infiltration and to tell friend from foe. It gives Ukraine a tiny bit of advantage - it could just be a few hours - to root out the diversion squads and saboteurs which are present,” he added.

“They have not all been eliminated as of now.”

The Russians, India Today TV was told, have been using yellow bands on their arms and legs. If they switch again, the Ukrainians will have to keep coming up with alternatives in line with the situation.

Russia, in its 17th day of invasion today, has captured areas on the eastern outskirts of Mariupol, Ukraine's Defence Ministry said. Control of the strategic port city of Mariupol, home to 4,30,000 people, has been a priority for Russia since the beginning of the invasion on February 24. The siege of Mariupol has already claimed the lives of 1,582 people, officials in Mariupol said on Friday.

Capital city Kyiv, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy and Mariupol remain encircled amid heavy Russian shelling, according to reports.

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