OREANDA-NEWS. Georgy Muradov, Permanent Representative of Crimea to the President of Russia, said that Ukraine is preparing mass executions in Odessa, while the participants in the executions of civilians will be dressed in the uniform of the Russian army, RIA Novosti reports.

“Alarming reports are coming in from friends in Odessa. They say that people fear that the Kyiv regime is preparing a bloody massacre for Odessa. According to local residents, a scenario is possible when brutalized nationalists and mercenaries in the form of the Russian army begin to massively shoot, blow up, rob and bomb civilians in Odessa, in order to blame the Russian military for this. Everything goes to the fact that the Ukrainian Nazis are plotting a terrible provocation, ”Muradov said.

He also said that foreign mercenaries also arrived in Odessa, which is completely controlled by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

“Reports from people from Odessa say that the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are being dressed in the uniform of the Russian army. It is possible that they can put tactical signs "Z" or "V" on their equipment. At the same time, according to Odessa residents, there are no Russian troops there,” Muradov explained.

Earlier, the ex-commander of the Airborne Forces Shamanov said that the next stage of the special operation in Ukraine would be the liberation of Odessa. According to the general, Mariupol and a number of other fortified areas are holding back units.

“As soon as we cut this Gordian knot, it will become much easier, and then we will take on the grouping that between the Dnieper and Izyum is already, in essence, surrounded and in a cauldron,” he said.

He noted that now there is an advance in the area of ​​Nikolaev.

“Odessa, like appendicitis, is blocked, but I think it will come to its turn,” Shamanov said.

He also stated that the goals of the first stage of the special operation had been achieved. According to the general, Russian troops were able to suppress the Ukrainian air defense forces. In addition, he says that the Russian Federation caused significant damage to the military infrastructure of Ukraine and left the country without a centralized state and military administration.

Shamanov also said that the advances of the Russian army were hampered as the military tried to avoid civilian deaths.