The Mayor Fedorov: Russians started stopping residents on the streets and checking their social networks in Melitopol

Russian troops in Melitopol started stopping people on the streets and checking their social networks. So they want to create an information blockade in the city so that the locals do not receive news from Ukraine.

The mayor of the city Ivan Fedorov told about this in an interview with the YouTube project "Babel" TA.ZA.SHO.

"They issued an order there and after issuing it, they gave themselves the right: if a person is walking down the street, they can simply stop him and ask him to show the contents of his phone. And if they find Ukrainian content there in messengers or somewhere else, then for them this is a reason for a fine, or to simply take a person prisoner. And we see a trend of unsubscribing from Ukrainian Telegram channels and groups, people are just scared because they can check their phone and will be punished for just reading their content," he explained.

According to him, the only way for the residents of Melitopol to get reliable information is to contact people in the unoccupied territory.

Fedorov said that the Russians are spreading information among the locals that “Russia has come forever”, that “the Nazis are in Ukraine”, and that “in the near future they will capture the city of Zaporizhzhia and the city of Dnipro” and “Zelensky will allegedly surrender”.

"Their goal is to create a vacuum so that no information they donʼt want is given out, and theyʼre trying to do that today. And as soon as they do, they will only provide propaganda," he emphasized.

• Melitopol has been under the control of Russian troops since February 25. According to the mayor Fedorov, more than 700 residents of the city became victims of kidnappings, and at the same time, the occupiers do not pay attention to the age, gender, or profession of people.