It is situated on the Molochna River that flows through the eastern edge of the city and into the Molochnyi Lyman, which eventually joins the Sea of Azov.
[citation needed] Melitopol's mayor Ivan Fedorov said that if Russian troops had come to the city in 2014, they would have been "welcomed with bread and salt", a traditional greeting in Russia and Ukraine.
[1] Control of the city would allow Russian troops to advance towards Berdiansk and then to Mariupol, which would establish a land connection linking Crimea and the Donetsk People's Republic.
Cruise missiles hit the control tower, a fueling station, and an Il-76 preparing for takeoff, killing an aviation technician.
[1] About 100 men volunteered for the Territorial Defense Forces in Melitopol in the early hours of 24 February, but were dismissed as there were no weapons to be distributed.
In the afternoon, the 25th Transport Aviation Brigade, which was headquartered at Melitopol's air base, was ordered to withdraw from the city; as a logistics unit, it lacked heavy weaponry.
[1] The 115th Battalion of the 110th Territorial Defense Brigade, made up of Melitopol residents, seized some weapons from the airbase and engaged the Russian column at the village of Nove, Zaporizhia Oblast [uk], southeast of the city, at 16:00, disabling an armored personnel carrier.
The Russians moved to the village of Mordvynivka [uk], and the Ukrainian territorial defense fighters were ordered to withdraw from the city at midnight.
"[23] It appealed to the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Iryna Venediktova, to launch a pre-trial investigation into Galina Danilchenko and her party Opposition Bloc for treason.