Zaporizhzhia Military Administration: Russian occupying troops demand bribes from people wanting to leave Melitopol

Anastasiia Kalatur – Tuesday, 24 May 2022, 04:25

Russian troops are demanding that civilians who want to leave Russian-occupied Melitopol pay them a bribe of 3,000-5,000 hryvnias.

Source: Zaporizhzhia Oblast Military Administration

Quote: "The Russians are trying to profit from armed pressure on Melitopol civilians. Russian soldiers at checkpoints are demanding that Melitopol residents who are trying to leave the city pay them between 3,000 and 5,000 hryvnias. Those who do not have the money are fated to remain the terrorists’ hostages amid unemployment, shortages, and terror."

Details: In addition to Melitopol, for several days now it has been impossible to leave the Russian-occupied city of Enerhodar for the city of Zaporizhzhia, the oblasts’s Ukrainian-held administrative capital.

Russian soldiers at the Vasylvika checkpoint have inexplicably stopped letting any vehicles through; a queue of more than 400 cars is waiting to go through the checkpoint.

Cars – including those carrying humanitarian aid for residents of the Russian-occupied territories of Zaporizhzhia Oblast – are also waiting to go through the checkpoint from the Ukrainian side. They are also being blocked by the Russian troops. According to the Zaporizhzhia Oblast Military Administration, which cites social media posts, it is only possible to go through after paying a 20,000-40,000- hryvnia bribe to the Russians controlling the checkpoint.