POLOGI (Zaporozhye Region), May 15. /TASS/. Dozens of residents of the city of Pologi, located near the contact line in the Zaporozhye Region, became Russian citizens Monday, according to a TASS reporter. A mobile passport office has been issuing official documents and receiving applications since this morning, despite the continued relocation of the population deeper into the region due to intensified Ukrainian shelling.
"As of today, people are very active in obtaining Russian passports. For example, 120 passports have already been issued today, and the work continues. A mobile passport office is working; I think it is very convenient for the people. People seek to obtain Russian citizenship, Russian passports," Pologovsky District Administration head Roman Sushkov told reporters.
According to Sushkov, the administration plans to deploy mobile passport offices in other district settlements.
"We are considering expanding. Mobile passport offices will be opened in rural settlements as well so that more people can become Russian citizens," Sushkov noted.
On Monday, a source in emergency services told TASS that civilians were killed during nighttime shelling of the Pologovsky District city of Tokmak.
On May 5, Acting Zaporozhye Region Governor Yevgeny Balitsky said that residents of 18 settlements of the region will be temporarily relocated deeper inside the region due to intensified Ukrainian shellings. Regional Deputy Prime Minister on Economy Andrey Kozenko told TASS that about 70,000 people could be relocated. On Thursday, First Deputy Governor Sergey Tolmachev said that 12,000 people have voluntarily relocated to safe locations from shelled areas, with 4,000 of whom were taken by bus to Berdyansk resorts by the authorities.