Russians shelling two frontline towns to force locals to "evacuate" - mayor

The Russian army has been shelling the towns of Tokmak and Molochansk in the occupied part of Zaporizhzhia region in order to force civilians to flee the area.

That’s according to Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov, who spoke at the national telethon, reports Ukrinform.

"Yesterday, there were enemy strikes at Tokmak and Molochansk, but the Russian propaganda media immediately blamed our armed forces. At the same time, residents report that they see where the strikes are coming from – that’s from the occupied territories. With such shelling, the enemy is trying to coerce people to go for an evacuation, which they launched two weeks ago," he said.

Fedorov added that the local population is not willing to evacuate as people are awaiting their area to be liberated by Ukraine’s forces. In addition, Fedorov says that even those who earlier evacuated to Berdiansk are now returning home.

Earlier it was reported that the Russian invaders announced the evacuation of almost two dozen temporarily occupied settlements.