New satellite imagery shows that a large base which held Russian tanks, artillery and other armor near the Ukrainian border has been largely emptied, with the equipment apparently being moved much closer to the frontier in recent days.

The base is at Yelnya, southeast of the city of Smolensk and some 160 miles from the Ukrainian border. Large amounts of weaponry were moved there late in 2021 -- including some 700 tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and ballistic missile launchers.

Much of that equipment is now gone, according to radar satellite imagery acquired on February 6. Cloud cover had prevented photographic imagery of the site for several days previously. The images show the tracks of departing vehicles.

Stephen Wood, senior director at satellite imagery company Maxar, revealed: "It looks to me like a considerable amount of the vehicles [tanks, self-propelled artillery and other support vehicles] have departed from the northeastern vehicle park; additional armored vehicles departed from the more central vehicle park."