Ukraine accuses Russia of kidnapping two mayors in three days

Authorities ukrainian have denounced the kidnapping of two mayors by the forces Russian in two of the locations they have taken.

Yevhen Matveyev was held in the southern town of Dniprorudne, according to a message published this Sunday on Twitter by Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, in which he accused Russia of tactics “terrorists”.

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Meanwhile, it has been reported that Russia appointed a new mayor in Melitopolafter allegedly kidnapping the mayor of the port city.

Ukraine’s president also accused Russia of trying to create “pseudo-republics” to disintegrate his country.

“New Reality”

In her first public appearance, the newly installed mayor of Melitopol, Galina Danilchenko, urged residents not to engage in “extremist actions” and declared that her main task would be to build “basic mechanisms under a new reality.”

Hundreds of people took part in a protest in front of the town hall on Saturday to demand the release of ousted mayor Ivan Fedorov, who had refused to cooperate with Russian troops since they took the city on the third day of the invasion.

In Melitopol, defiant residents gathered near occupied district administration demanding that Russians release the kidnapped Melitopol mayor Ivan Fedorov – video by Odessa reg governor Maksym Marchenko pic.twitter.com/nCrE6OtQd0

— Myroslava Petsa (@myroslavapetsa) March 12, 2022

Fedorov was last seen being forcibly taken from the city’s crisis center on Friday, with a hood pulled over his head by several armed men.

Ukrainian officials shared a video of the incident and said the gunmen were Russian soldiers.

“We are not cooperating with the Russians on anything,” Fedorov told the BBC earlier this week. “They haven’t tried to help us, they can’t help us, and we don’t want their help.”

Russian authorities have not commented on her disappearance, but the prosecutor’s office in Luhansk, the pro-Russian breakaway region in eastern Ukraine, reportedly accused him of “terrorist activities”.

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CCTV image allegedly showing the mayor being taken away by force. (REUTERS/HANDOUT)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has demanded Fedorov’s immediate release and called on the leaders of Israel, Germany and France to pressure Russia to release him.

In his most recent video address on Saturday night, Zelenzky claimed that Russia would create “pseudo-republics” in Ukraine.

He praised those who refused to collaborate in the Kherson region, also controlled by the Russians.

The city council there had earlier adopted a resolution reaffirming that it “has been, is and will remain an inalienable part of the united state of Ukraine,” in response to what it said was a Russian plan to hold a referendum on the creation of a ” people’s republic”.

Zelensky warned “certain people” that they would face severe consequences in the event of any collaboration, in an apparent reference to Danilchenko.

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Source: Elcomercio