Zaporizhzhia region: Russian occupying troops force men to enlist in army or "people’s militia"

Iryna Balachuk – Tuesday, 12 April 2022, 10:09

Russian occupiers in the Zaporizhzhia region are searching for men of conscription age and forcing them to enlist in the [Russian] army. Ukrainian police are being enlisted in the so-called "people’s militia" detachments, using intimidation and threats against them and their families.

Source: Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration, on Telegram

According to the Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration: "Mobile patrols and checkpoints that deploy mobilised residents of the temporarily occupied territories of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions are operating in the Zaporizhzhia region that are temporarily occupied by Russian troops.

The occupiers are also carrying out raids of municipal service organisations to find men of conscription age and force them to enlist. The occupiers are creating detachments of the so-called "people’s militia" with Ukrainian policemen, using intimidation and threats against them and their families."

Details: In the Melitopol district, the Russian soldiers are searching people’s homes for weapons, documents, and food supplies. They are also trying to obtain information about Ukrainian veterans of the ATO [the ‘Anti-Terrorist Operation’ zone, Russian-occupied territory in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions - ed.], members of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and law enforcement officers.

The situation in Enerhodar is complicated; there, the occupying soldiers are trying to isolate the city completely and install their own order: they are appointing new heads of public institutions and forcing local entrepreneurs to obtain special permits to continue working, with a view to either fully controlling or elso banning their enterprises.

Russia continues to share false information across all social media channels that the Armed Forces of Ukraine have been defeated by Russian troops.

The occupiers are forcing Ukrainian citizens to sign up to Russian social benefits schemes, including Russian pensions.

There is currently no communication service in Huliaipole, but repair works are already underway.

The Russian occupying troops are positioning military personnel and equipment in residential neighbourhoods and central parts of the captured towns and villages in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. There have also been cases of Russian soldiers fighting in civilian clothes.

The Regional Military Administration stressed that fierce fighting is taking place in the Zaporizhzhia region, with Ukrainian defenders holding their ground and pushing the enemy troops back in some areas. The situation remains under control.