About 10,000 civilians remain in temporarily occupied Severodonetsk, Head of the city's military-civilian administration Oleksandr Striuk has said.

"According to our estimates, there are about 10,000 of them, these are the native citizens [before the full-scale invasion, the population of Severodonetsk was 100,000 people]. If we talk about the statements of the occupying authorities that people are returning to the city, and at the same time, the number 30,000, it looks more like a fake, although from neighboring cities – from Rubizhne, Kreminna – people are offered to move to the North, to occupy more or less surviving residential premises," he told Interfax-Ukraine.

Striuk said in this way people are artificially "pulled" to Severodonetsk as a more or less safe point in the occupied territory. According to him, the city "has added people due to seconded people who arrived in Severodonetsk for its fake restoration, creating a picture of supposedly actively ongoing work, as well as the military, who are concentrating on the city's territory."

In addition, the administration's head said as of the beginning of the school year, there were up to 1,000 schoolchildren in Severodonetsk.

"The occupiers are trying to conduct the educational process for them according to some Russian programs, they are importing textbooks from Luhansk. This is actually 'inculcating' rashist ideas on children's minds. Unfortunately, we have a situation that will require significant psychological and, let's say, ideological work," Striuk said.