Over the past two weeks, Russian invaders have been blocking the evacuation of civilians from Melitopol on the line of demarcation, mayor of the occupied city Ivan Fedorov said.

"For the last two weeks, there has been almost no evacuation, because the Russians are blocking it on the demarcation line, in Vasylivka: today more than 400 cars have gathered there, in which there are also three-month-old children. Today, the line is not moving at all, because the Russians are using our people, our civilians, as a shield in order to protect themselves from artillery fire from the Ukrainian side. Therefore, today the city is completely blocked - people cannot leave it," he said at a briefing at the Ukraine-Ukrinform media center on Monday.

Fedorov said that more than two months ago the Russian occupiers blocked the official evacuation, which the Office of the President of Ukraine agreed with the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.

At the same time, according to him, over the previous three months, the townspeople could travel relatively calmly by private transport from Melitopol to Zaporizhia.

"It took probably two days maximum. It was relatively calm: a few cars came under fire, but mostly people could get there," the mayor of the city said.

At the same time, Fedorov noted that in total during the occupation of Melitopol, 50% of the inhabitants, that is, almost 70,000 citizens, were able to leave the city.