Mayor: Traffic jam between Russian-occupied Melitopol and Crimea due to evacuation

A huge queue of cars and trucks, with some waiting for five hours, could be seen obstructing the Chonhar checkpoint between Russian-occupied Melitopol and Crimea, exiled Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov said on May 6.

According to him, Russian authorities "provoked a mad panic and no less mad queues when they announced the evacuation of some settlements in the Russian-occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia Oblast on May 1.

Russian occupation authorities are preparing evacuation plans in the occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Ukraine's National Resistance Center reported on May 1.

According to local sources, the occupation authorities are preparing for the evacuation of workers and their families.

Instructions on how to destroy documents and equipment are also being distributed, the National Resistance Center wrote.

In the same news piece, the National Resistance Center reiterated previously reported intel on how local occupation authorities in Crimea sent messages to districts to prepare shelters in case of "threats."

Ukraine is expected to launch a major counteroffensive in the coming weeks. The long-awaited counteroffensive is seen as a critical juncture to take back Ukrainian territory under Russian control.

Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said on national television on April 19 that "complex measures" of Ukraine's planned counteroffensive are "already underway" in the east.

Season of offensives: What to expect from the spring campaign in Ukraine

On the battlefields of eastern Ukraine, with the first days of March came the all-consuming mud. Videos of trucks and armored vehicles bogged down in fields heralded the arrival of a time traditionally known in Ukrainian as bezdorizhzhia, or “roadlessness.” Though the mud may present a brief challe…

Kyiv IndependentFrancis Farrell