The Daily Mail reports that Russian military sites have been made visible on its maps, while Google insists that they have always been visible. This comes at the same time as the official launch of Russia’s major offensive in the Donbas.

A Google spokesperson insisted that there has been no change in policy of blurring sensitive sites and that the images have always been available.

A Google spokesperson said: ‘We haven’t made any blurring changes to our satellite imagery in Russia.’

Sensitive military installations in the UK are also visible on Google Maps, including the Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth in its home port of Portsmouth.

It should be noted that the images are not thought to be up-to-the-minute and sometimes satellite images are not updated for years, meaning that the configuration of Russian ships and hardware could be very different today.