Melitopol Mayor: Russian troops prevent 200 evacuating cars from passing through checkpoint

Iryna Balachuk – Saturday, 2 April 2022, 12:52

Ivan Fedorov, the Mayor of Melitopol, said that on 1 April Russian troops refused to allow people evacuating Melitopol in their own cars through the evacuationcheckpoint.

Source: Ivan Fedorov, Mayor of Melitopol, in a Facebook video address

According to Fedorov: "It is so dangerous to stay in the occupied territory that yesterday people were prepared to evacuate even in truck beds. Nearly 2,000 people evacuated Melitopol yesterday, but at the Vasylivka checkpoint Russian occupiers only let evacuation buses through and did not allow private cars to pass through."

Details: According to Fedorov, over 400 cars were waiting at the Vasylivka checkpoint on 1 April. They were forced to spend the night on the premises of a nearby plant. Today they are once again denied the right to pass through the checkpoint.

Fedorov said that 2,000 Melitopol residents have been affected by this and that the occupiers are using them as a "human shield."

The Mayor added that on the morning of 2 April Russian troops took people’s names, surnames, and licence plate numbers in order to carry out some sort of identity check – only then will they decide whether to let the civilians pass through to the Ukrainian-controlled territory.

Background: On 1 April, Mayor Fedorov of Melitopol reported that evacuation buses were finally able to leave Melitopol around midday.