Melitopol partisans work together with Armed Forces of Ukraine, with good results – Mayor
IRYNA BALACHUK — THURSDAY, 8 SEPTEMBER 2022, 11:03
The partisan movement in occupied Melitopol has been cooperating with the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and the Resistance’s work in the city is showing some decent results.
Source: Ivan Fedorov, Mayor of Melitopol, in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda
Details: According to the mayor, the Resistance in Melitopol started with a public prayer service in the centre of the city. Protestant church pastors would go to the central square and pray for Ukraine.
These prayers stopped only in June, when they [the Russians] began to disperse [the worshippers]. After that, a partisan movement arose in the city in response to the fact that people were forbidden to assemble in the streets.
Quote from Fedorov: "But [their] inner ambitions did not go anywhere. People wanted to do something that would return their city to Ukraine’s control as soon as possible, so they began to coordinate [their efforts with others’].
Coordinating with law enforcement agencies; coordinating with the Armed Forces of Ukraine, [and] with the central government. And that's why it works like this today."
Details: According to the mayor, it is thanks to this communication that there are positive results from the joint activities in Melitopol.
In particular, Russian warehouses are being blown up in the city; residents are attacking the occupiers; the defenders have accurate data on the movement of Russia's armed forces, and the invaders have stopped supplying weapons to Melitopol, which was initially chosen as a logistics hub for ammunition and everything else.
Quote from Fedorov: "We know what there is, where it is, [and] how much there is. The result is that collaborators are cutting back the bushes and trees in front of their doorways because they are afraid to walk in.
I know a real-life example from one collaborator who answers the phone saying, ‘I’m walking around my apartment and looking around the corners.’
Imagine how collaborators must feel after an explosion at a military base. It’s unimaginable."
Details: According to the mayor, there are "tens of thousands" of people in the Resistance forces of Melitopol today. And the active resistance (those who inform every day and are doing extremely difficult, extremely dangerous, but extremely important work for the state) has hundreds of people.
Fedorov added that currently there are at least four centralised Russian warehouses in Melitopol. According to him, not all of them have been destroyed yet, but the Armed Forces of Ukraine are fully informed about the occupiers’ movements in the region, so there will be news of more explosions in the city.
The mayor noted that the invaders also realise this, which is why they are living in tension, relocating their equipment and ammunition depots to Crimea before the turning for Kyrylivka [an urban-type settlement in the Melitopol district of Zaporizhzhia Oblast in southern Ukraine], and already evacuating their families from Melitopol.
"But the enemy will get another sort of surprise when our Armed Forces approach the outskirts of Melitopol. For the Ruscists, the Resistance we were talking about a few minutes ago will be a surprise – they will be crushed from the inside. The Armed Forces will crush them from the outside, and the resistance forces will crush them from the inside," Fedorov concluded.
Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda!
