The occupiers brought almost 100,000 Russians to the occupied Melitopol, the mayor of the city, Ivan Fedorov,said. He emphasized that the cityʼs population had become larger than it had been before the full-scale invasion.
By February 24, 2022, about 150,000 people lived in Melitopol. Within half a year after the occupation, more than half of the citizens of Melitopol left the city for the territory controlled by Ukraine and abroad — according to Fedorovʼs approximate estimates, then 60-70 thousand citizens remained in the city.
"From that time, tourists and guest workers from Russia started coming to the city en masse. According to a local resident of Melitopol, the cityʼs population became larger than it was before the occupation, i.e. more than 150 thousand. Most of them are those who came," Ivan Fedorov said.
He emphasized that in this way the Russians are trying to extinguish the Ukrainian resistance, which continues in the occupied territories, and to change the gene pool in order to complicate the life of Ukrainians in the city.
- Melitopol has been under the control of Russian troops since February 26, 2022.
- Ivan Fedorov has been the mayor of Melitopol since December 2020. On January 23, 2024, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the appointment of Ivan Fedorov as the head of Zaporizhzhia OVA and the dismissal of Yury Malashko from this position.
- At the beginning of the full-scale war, Ivan Fedorov refused to cooperate with the occupiers, and already on March 11, 2022, he was kidnapped by the Russian military. A few days later, he was exchanged for nine captured occupiers.