The occupiers are imposing total control in Mariupol and carrying out "sweeps," said Mayor's Advisor Petro Andriushchenko.
"For two days in a row, "sweeps " in the villages near Mariupol in the northern direction, where the occupiers are stationed. House-to-house rounds by the Federal Security Service (FSB) with searches, checks of correspondence and gadgets. In the village of Pavlopol, it came to checking the phones of first-graders at school," the statement said.
According to Andriushchenko, the occupational administrations of Mariupol are installing equipment/servers to fully control the Internet traffic of workers and visitors. The deployment and setup should be completed within 4 weeks. Full control of all gadgets and their traffic. The reason for this is an attempt to combat the constant information leakage.
He also said that there had been a recent increase in "cotton pops (explosions- Ed.)" in the Mariupol area, which could lead to increased measures of total control of the local population.
On the evening of 2 February, loud explosions were heard in Mariupol again. The detonation was heard in the city after the explosions.
On 1 February, at least seven loud explosions occurred on Mariupol's left bank during an air alert.