The occupiers, who control the situation in Energodar, have forbidden residents from leaving the territory controlled by Ukraine and generally outside the city limits. The special control is applied to operational shift workers of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

Currently, the streets of the city and surrounding settlements are practically empty. The local population sits at home, trying not to go out unless absolutely necessary. On the streets, there are patrols of the military forces of the Russian Federation with voting forms for the so-called "referendum". Weapons are pointed at all onlookers, "ballots" are issued, and they are told exactly where to put a "tick". Rare cases of coercion to vote for long-dead relatives have been recorded.

Everyone who dared to "vote" against joining the Russian Federation was threatened with "mobilization".