ukraine russia war Ukrainian authorities on Saturday accused the Russian military of kidnapping the mayor of Melitopol, a city in southeastern Ukraine. The city is now completely under Russian control.
On Thursday, 10 soldiers entered the compound of Melitopol’s crisis center, placed a bag over Mayor Ivan Fedorov’s head and took him to an undisclosed location, Anton Herashenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s Interior Ministry, told Al Jazeera.
Kyrilo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the presidential office in Kyiv, shared footage purportedly showing Fedorov being kidnapped by a group of masked men who were taking him out of a building. The video could not be independently verified and even Russian officials did not comment about Fedorov.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and the country’s foreign ministry condemned the kidnapping, describing Fedorov as “a chief who bravely defended his country and members of his community.” He called the incident a war crime because international law prohibits the taking of civilian hostages during war.
Russian forces entered Melitopol on 25 February, the second day of their invasion of Ukraine, after which Fedorov led several rallies against the invaders, including a rally on 2 March that saw thousands of people in attendance. Fedorov had earlier said that the Russian military had turned down his request to open a humanitarian corridor to let the city’s residents through.