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Mayor: Melitopol residents forced to vote in ‘referendum’ for absent relatives, neighbors

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The exiled mayor of Melitopol, a Russian-occupied city in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Ivan Fedorov said on Sept. 26 that Russian occupation authorities are going door-to-door to make locals vote instead of their family members and neighbors who evacuated due to the "catastrophically low turnout."

Russia's proxies in the occupied parts of Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts are holding sham referendums on joining Russia on Sept. 23-27.

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The Kyiv Independent news desk

We are the news team of the Kyiv Independent. We are here to make sure our readers get quick, essential updates about the events in Ukraine. Feel free to contact us via email with feedback and news alerts.

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As Russia bombards Ukraine with Shahed drones almost every night, the 12th Army Aviation Brigade takes to the skies in decades-old helicopters to intercept them. The Kyiv Independent’s Kollen Post joined the pilots to understand how they fly, maneuver, and shoot down drones in darkness — and what keeps them going.

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