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A Ukrainian mayor kidnapped by Russian forces last week has been released from captivity, officials said Wednesday.
The news that the mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, is no longer in the hands of Russia, was announced by the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak.
“The mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, has been released from Russian captivity,” he wrote in a Telegram message.
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Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, confirmed on Facebook that Zelensky had spoken to Fedorov. The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine has published a video of a conversation between the president and the mayor on a mobile phone.
“We don’t abandon our own,” Zelensky said, the ministry said in a Twitter post.
In a previous post, he said that a “special operation to free the mayor of Melitopol” had just been successfully completed.
Fedorov was taken to a crisis center in Melitopol on March 11 and escorted out of the building with a plastic bag over his head, the Ukrainian parliament said.
Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov was released from captivity after being kidnapped by Russian troops on Friday, Ukrainian officials said Wednesday. (Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine)
Moscow accused him of terrorism. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine qualified the kidnapping of Fedorov and civilians as a war crime.
At the time, in a social media post, the Ukrainian parliament said that 10 Russian troops had taken Fedorov and that “he refused to cooperate with the enemy.”
Russian forces kidnapped three Ukrainian mayors after the February 24 invasion.
On Wednesday, the mayor of Skadovsk Oleksandr Yakovlev and his deputy Yuri Paliukh were taken by Russian troops, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.
According to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Skadovsk Mayor Oleksandr Yakovlev and his deputy Yury Paliukh were abducted on Wednesday. (Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine)
He said Moscow continues to “kidnap democratically elected local leaders in Ukraine” and shared a selfie of Yakovlev on the beach. The message came shortly before Zelenskiy asked Congress for much-needed help to defend against Moscow.
Yakovlev later went live on Facebook and announced that he had been released. Details about the alleged kidnapping, or whether it was filmed, were not immediately available.
Mayor of Dneprorudny Matveev Sergeevich was also abducted by Russian troops on Sunday, officials said.
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“Lacking local support, the occupiers turn to terror,” Kuleba tweeted about the kidnapping. “I call on all states and international organizations to stop Russian terror against Ukraine and democracy.”