According to the Kremlin media, in this way, the region's residents want to "secure themselves" and "liberate their territories." StopFake wrote that the statement about the "formation of a battalion of volunteers to protect against the Armed Forces" in Zaporizhzhia was made by a collaborator of Balytskyi, who has nothing to do with the official Ukrainian authorities.

Fact-checkers drew attention to the fact that the occupiers appointed former regional People's Deputy Yevhen Balytskyi as the head of the administration. On May 26, the SSU announced that he was suspected of treason. According to the Armed Forces, the city of Zaporizhzhia is under the full control of the Ukrainian army. In addition, Russia violated the Geneva Conventions by mobilizing Ukrainians in the occupied territories, the fact-checkers added. Read more.