The Russian occupation forces began to legalize their prisons and dungeons in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, in particular, in Zaporizhia region, Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov has said.

"We can see a trend: the Rushists have started to legalize their prisons and dungeons in the temporarily occupied territories. I am speaking about an instruction issued by gauleiters on the legalization of 28 prisons in the temporarily occupied territories, including three in the temporarily occupied part of Zaporizhia region. We have said earlier that there were at least five dungeons in temporarily occupied Melitopol. So, a part of them have been legalized by the Rushists," he told a press briefing hosted by the Ukraine-Ukrinform Media Center on Monday.

Fedorov said he could not voice the exact number of Ukrainian citizens imprisoned in such facilities. At the same time, he said that the Russian invaders have illegally transferred "at least 3,500 prisoners from the local jails, which existed before the occupation, to temporarily occupied Crimea."