Russian forces announce that residents of Ukraine’s Melitopol will "automatically become" Russians from October 30

Melitopol’s Mayor Ivan Fedorov wrote about this on his social media page.

“The local Gauleiters of Melitopol announced that from October 30, all residents living in captured settlements of the Zaporizhzhia region will automatically become Russian citizens,” Fedorov wrote. 

The mayor believes that the goal of the occupying Russian forces with regard to such statements is to intimidate and forcibly mobilize residents.

“They failed to impose Russian passports - people massively refused to take "wolf tickets" in their hands. However, any decrees, propaganda and efforts of the occupiers are worthless, just like they themselves, and do not have any legal consequences,” the mayor emphasized. 

“Residents of the occupied territories were and continue to be citizens of Ukraine, and Ukraine's Armed Forces are doing everything to liberate them from the occupiers,” Fedorov added.

• On September 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilization in the country.

• Vladimir Putin introduced a regime of "martial law" in the temporarily occupied territories of Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Luhansk and Donetsk regions.

• The martial law declared by Russian President Vladimir Putin in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine is a "desperate tactic" aimed at establishing control.

• Defense Express analyst Serhii Zgurets believes that Russia will direct the problems of providing everything necessary for the mobilized Russian military to the annexed regions of Ukraine, where Vladimir Putin illegally imposed a "martial law" regime.

• Oleksandr Musienko, director of the Center for Military Legal Research, noted that Russia will force Ukrainians in the temporarily occupied territories to go to the so-called territorial headquarters, as it wants to fully use the resources of the captured cities and villages of Ukraine.

• On October 15, the mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, reported that the Russian invaders are illegally detaining 4,000 people at their checkpoint in Vasylivka.  

• The mayor of Melitopol called on the residents of the temporarily occupied territories to leave, considering the decree on martial law in the Zaporizhzhia region and preparations for mobilization.