Russia builds fortresses around occupied cities, destroys banks of Molochna River – Melitopol mayor

He spoke about this on Espreso TV.

"Russia continues to build defense lines, which are now so difficult for our heroic military to fight. The construction of enemy fortifications continues between Vasylivka, Tokmak and Melitopol, and even from Melitopol to the temporarily occupied Crimea. Russia is trying to build new defense lines. In addition, they are building solid fortresses around our towns and cities to hinder the advance of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. This is exactly what Russian forces are doing around Tokmak and Melitopol," said Ivan Fedorov.

Fedorov added that in Melitopol, Russian troops are tearing up the banks of the Molochna River to the maximum extent possible to swamp the area and create a natural defensive structure.

"Occupying Russian forces have also brought in a huge amount of logs to build dugouts. Not to mention the fact that it is a common practice of the enemy to build underground cities from shipping containers, which really complicate the advance of Ukrainian forces. But I am confident that all these hostile actions will not stop our army, so we must do everything we can to help Ukrainian defenders continue their advance," the mayor of Melitopol stressed.

• On September 10, it was reported that Russian forces had installed mobile phone towers in Melitopol. This way, the invading Russian army listens to the telephone conversations of local residents.

• On September 18, several explosions were heard in the temporarily occupied Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia region. Russian occupation "authorities" report air defense systems operating and shooting down missiles