According to a publication by Andriy Yermak, chief of staff of Ukraine’s President Volodymir Zelensky, Russian forces freed the mayor of the Ukrainian city of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, who had been imprisoned since last Friday (11).
“The mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, has been released from Russian captivity,” said the chief of staff of the Presidency of Ukraine. According to Ukrainian officials, the mayor was kidnapped and held captive by Russian forces.
Although he was elected by the people of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov was detained by gunmen in the breakaway region of Luhansk, controlled by pro-Russian rebels and supported by the government of Vladimir Putin, which recognized the area as independent.
Currently, Melitopol is under military control of the Russian army.
According to the Luhansk Prosecutor’s Office, Mayor Fedorov is accused of terrorism crimes, and would have aided and financed terrorist activities by being part of a criminal community.
This was the first known case of a Ukrainian political official being detained and investigated by Russian forces — or Russian-backed ones — since the invasion began.
Shortly after Fedorov’s arrest, a new mayor took over the Ukrainian city of Melitopol appointed by the Zaporozhye regional administration. Galina Danilchenko, a former member of the city council, took over as interim mayor and was announced through a local television channel.
In his statement, which was posted by the government on the messaging app Telegram, Danilchenko said his “main task is to take all necessary measures to get the city back to normal.”
She claimed that there were still people in Melitopol who would try to destabilize “the situation and provoke a reaction of bad behavior”.
*With information from Reuters and CNN International
Source: CNN Brasil
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