Russia bans VPNs in temporarily occupied territories - Fedorov

This was reported by the mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, on the air of the nationwide 'United News marathon.

He emphasized that Russians in the temporarily occupied territories are trying to organize an information vacuum and control every information event.

"One of the methods is to control communications and Internet connections. They were unable to rebuild the towers of one of the Ukrainian mobile operators, and that is why they are now massively installing new mobile towers. We understand that all the communications that Russia organizes there are 100% wiretapped. They have also almost banned VPNs, although it was almost the only way to get objective information in the temporarily occupied territories, because there is no Google or Facebook on the Russian 'Internet'," he said.

Fedorov added that the occupiers are doing this to identify people who are waiting for the Ukrainian Armed Forces to "take them to the commandant's office, to the basement, or to take even harsher measures."

As reported by Ukrinform, in Mariupol, temporarily captured by the Russian army, the mobile communications of the occupation operator 'Phoenix', which is currently operating in the city, have been completely disabled.