Russian invaders are trying to leave Zaporizhzhia Oblast under the guise of civilians – Mayor of Melitopol

Residents of the occupied part of Zaporizhzhia Oblast report cases when the Russian military personnel tries to leave the occupied territory under the guise of civilians who are allowed to evacuate.

Source: Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov on the national joint 24/7 newscast

Quote from Fedorov: "Unfortunately, today we can only talk about the evacuation of local residents from at least more than half of the temporarily occupied territory of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, and enemy troops, on the contrary, are moving more and more to the Zaporizhzhia frontline.

But there are some military personnel who are trying to escape from the temporarily occupied territories. So, our residents report frequent cases when the Russian military personnel change into civilian clothes. One of the goals of why they do this is to escape from the temporarily occupied territory.

Therefore, another filtering has now been added when leaving the temporarily occupied territory – when they check all civilians in cars and try to prevent Ruscist military personnel from being disguised in cars."

Details: Fedorov again noted that Russians began to leave the administrative buildings of the occupied Melitopol district. In particular, the invaders took out equipment from the Melitopol Penal Colony and the Ukrtelecom [Ukraine's sole landline phone service provider company – ed.] building they seized and also began to leave several premises where the commandant's office was located in them.

"Also in Melitopol, nearly all of their [invaders’ – ed.] Mera stores, which were located in our chain supermarkets, shut down. They did both in Melitopol and Berdiansk, not to mention those territories where Russia allegedly announced evacuation," the mayor of Melitopol said.

Background: On 5 May, Yevgeny Balitsky, the Russian-appointed so-called "head" of occupied Zaporizhzhia Oblast, announced a partial evacuation of the local residents from 18 frontline settlements.

On 6 May, Ivan Fedorov, the mayor of Melitopol, says that the Russians’ "evacuation" of the occupied part of Zaporizhzhia Oblast is happening too quickly, and huge queues have formed at the Chongar checkpoint on the road from Melitopol to Crimea.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!