Melitopol: Residents did not go out to celebrate 9 May, people brought in from Luhansk and Crimea - mass media

OLENA ROSHCHINA —  MONDAY, 9 MAY 2022, 13:45

The Russian military failed to gather residents of occupied Melitopol to celebrate 9 May, said Mayor Ivan Fedorov, adding that people continue to flee the occupied city, even though it is difficult to do so.

Source: Mayor Ivan Fedorov on air, RIA "Melitopol"

Details: According to Fedorov, more than 60% of residents have left Melitopol, that is to say, 60,000-70,000 residents have left the temporarily occupied city.

People take a risk by leaving the city, as they are either fired on or prevented from getting through.

Quote: "Today there is great demand for evacuation and departure from Melitopol, but the Russians have not agreed a centralised evacuation for almost a month, and it is a real challenge for people [to leave the city by] private transport.

Those who were driving through Orikhiv to Zaporizhzhia yesterday spent 12.5 hours on the road and came under fire. Those people who left through Vasylivka have been standing at the Ruscist checkpoint for the third day, and they are not letting them [through] towards Zaporizhzhia. There are children, women and elderly people in this column."

Details: According to Fedorov, the Russians tried to conduct [a celebration] of 9 May in Melitopol, with preparations taking almost a month.

"They failed to conduct [the celebration] of 9 May. Last night they made a statement that it is dangerous to go out into the city today to celebrate 9 May because someone from Ukraine is planning to carry out some provocations. This is nonsense, of course, because the occupiers wanted to conduct these provocations and then accuse Ukrainian authorities of it," he said.

"I am grateful that our residents are not going out into the streets, and are not celebrating 9 May with the occupiers and collaborators," Fedorov added.

The local publication adds that while the Melitopol residents were leaving, the occupiers brought in residents of occupied Crimea, Luhansk and villages of the Melitopol district to the city on 9 May.

Russian Telegram channels showed that the "Immortal Regiment" march allegedly took place in Melitopol.

According to RIA "Melitopol", about 3,000 people were brought to the city to take part in the "Immortal Regiment" march.

According to local journalists, on 9 May "it was crowded only when the soldier's porridge was distributed" in the central city park of Melitopol.