He told it "Espreso.TV" live on air.
"Today we can talk about the numbers in detail, because yesterday, thanks to the failed Russian fake propaganda, we became aware of the real number of local residents who participated in the "referendum". And this figure is 0.5% of the total number of those who should have voted in the Zaporizhzhia region, i.e. 0.5% took part in the fake referendum," the mayor of Melitopol emphasized.
Ivan Fedorov noted that the residents of the temporarily occupied territories have once again demonstrated their opposition and reluctance to cooperate with the enemy, and people also clearly understand that our territories will be liberated by Ukrainian Armed Forces.
"And what Russians do now, is what they need to carry out emergency mobilization in the temporarily occupied territory. I would advise men not to join the ranks of the enemy's armed forces under any circumstances, but to go to the territory controlled by Ukraine. Of course, this pseudo-referendum is not democracy, and was held at gunpoint, people were caught in the middle of the streets or entered into houses, forcing one to vote for all family members. I would like to thank our residents, because it is very difficult, being under occupation for seven months, to show resistance alongside an armed enemy. "The fact that 0.5% voted is very brave and dangerous, but we should thank our people for that," Fedorov emphasized.