The ceremony of issuing Russian passports to residents of Melitopol. Archival photoMELITOPOL, June 12 The head of the military-civilian administration of the Zaporozhye region Yevgeny Balitsky handed Russian passports to the residents of the region and promised that «Russia will not leave anywhere,» a RIA Novosti correspondent reports. The ceremony is timed to the Day of Russia, it took place in a building in the city administration, passports were handed to dozens of people to the anthem of the Russian Federation. «Today, on the Day of Russia, with pride in my heart I congratulate everyone who has become a citizen of a huge, great, just country. This is another proof that Russia will not go anywhere «We are here forever. These lands were once conquered by the tsars, rebuilt by the Soviet Union and will develop together with all the people of Ukraine. Because Ukraine is a people, not a territory. With the people! Go to the bright future that our fathers and grandfathers who fought against fascism, fought for equality, for justice. Because Ukraine is a people, not a territory,» Balitsky said. «Some fought, some endured, but the time has come when you and I have become full-fledged citizens of the Great Motherland, the Motherland that is in our hearts,» the head of the administration said.
