Mayor of Ukraine's Melitopol city Ivan Fedorov
Highlights
- Russia has kidnapped the mayor of city Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, alleged Zelensky.
- Zelensky equated it to the actions of ISIS terrorists.
- Group of 10 occupiers kidnapped the mayor of Melitopol Ivan Fedorov, said the Parliament of Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Vlodymyr Zelensky has alleged that Russia has kidnapped the mayor of city Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, reported news agency AP. Zelensky equated it to the actions of ISIS terrorists. “They have transitioned into a new stage of terror, in which they try to physically liquidate representatives of Ukraine’s lawful local authorities,” Zelenskyy said in a video address Friday evening.
"A group of 10 occupiers kidnapped the mayor of Melitopol Ivan Fedorov," Ukraine's parliament said on Twitter. He refused to cooperate with the enemy, it added. It said the mayor was seized when he was at the city's crisis centre dealing with supply issues.
The Parliament of Ukraine also said that a few days ago, the occupiers abducted a participant in a rally against the occupation, Serhiy Kyrychuk. Melitopol is under the temporary control of Russian troops.
Kirill Timoshenko, the deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office, posted a video on the social media site Telegram which he said showed a group of armed men carrying the mayor, Ivan Fedorov, across a square.
The prosecutor’s office of the Luhansk People’s Republic, a Moscow-backed rebel region in eastern Ukraine, said on its website that there was a criminal case against Fedorov. They have alleged that Fedorov was involved in 'terrorist activities' and that he financed the nationalist militia Right Sector to commit terrorist crimes against Donbas civilians.
