Just 20% of Mariupol residents take part in "referendum"
UKRAINSKA PRAVDA – TUESDAY, 27 SEPTEMBER 2022, 14:56
About 100,000 people now live in occupied Mariupol, and only one in five of those who have remained in the city voted in the Russian invaders’ sham referendum.
Source: Vadym Boichenko, Mayor of Mariupol, at a briefing at the Ukraine- Ukrinform media centre on 27 September
Quote from Boichenko: "There were 541,000 people in Mariupol before the war; today more than 100,000 people are being held there. How can we talk about a majority of people right now? The majority of Mariupol residents are in territory controlled by Ukraine – over 200,000 people. This is not a referendum, it’s an opinion poll.
A tiny number of people who have to ‘tick a box’ because someone is going round to each house with a machine gun and asking them to. People are being forced to do this. That’s 20% of the 100,000 people they are forcibly detaining in Mariupol. How can this be an instrument of democracy?"
Details: Boichenko stressed that the invaders are "closing Mariupol" specifically for the purposes of forced mobilisation. According to him, the Russian Federation could mobilise over 10,000 men in Mariupol. The mayor has urged residents of the occupied city to try to leave as quickly as possible.
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