Residents of Russian-occupied Mariupol receive SMS in which they are offered to take part in the war on the side of Russia. This was announced by the Mariupol City Council.

The messages that Mariupol residents receive say that "recruitment to a military unit for military service under a contract" is being carried out. Those who wish are offered a monetary allowance in the amount of 200-300 thousand rubles. As emphasized in the publication of the Mariupol City Council, in fact, people are simply collected and sent to the front, "as it was done in Donetsk."

“This indicates that the Russian occupiers are not doing as well at the front as they are trying to show through their propaganda channels. They are afraid of a counteroffensive by the Armed Forces of Ukraine and are ready to use the inhabitants of the occupied territories as cannon fodder to cover their positions,” the city council writes.

Since Mariupol came under Russian control, local authorities have regularly reported human rights abuses by Russians. In early August, it became known that the Russian military was planning to lynch Ukrainian prisoners of war. To do this, they began to build prison cells on the stage of the Mariupol Chamber Philharmonic. The invaders are planning to hold a trial in September.