According to the Ukrainian parliament, Ivan Fedorov refused to “cooperate” with the occupiers. President Zelensky called on Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to help secure his release.
“A group of ten invaders kidnapped the mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov,” Rada, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, said on her Twitter account. “He refused to cooperate with the enemy,” she added, pointing out that he was arrested while he was in a crisis center in a city about 120 kilometers south of Zaporizhzhia to deal with supply issues.
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Deputy head of the presidential administration of Ukraine Kyrylo Tymoshenko previously posted on Telegram a video showing soldiers leaving a building from afar with a man in black, whose head appears to be covered in a black bag.
Later, President Volodymyr Zelensky himself confirmed the information. “Today in Melitopol, the invaders captured the mayor Ivan Fedorov. A mayor who courageously defends Ukraine and members of his community,” he condemned later in the evening in a video message. “This is clearly a sign of the weakness of the occupiers… They have moved on to a new stage of terror, in which they are trying to physically eliminate representatives of the legitimate local Ukrainian authorities,” he said, he emphasizes.
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“Therefore, the capture of the mayor of Melitopol is a crime not only against a specific person, against a specific community, and not only against Ukraine. This is a crime against democracy as such (…). The actions of the Russian occupiers will be equated with the actions of the terrorists of the Islamic State,” he said indignantly.
Zelensky turned to Macron and Scholz
Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday called on Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to help free Ivan Fedorov. “We expect world leaders to show us how they can make a difference,” he said. This Saturday, the two European leaders spoke again with Vladimir Putin.
According to the Rada, another regional official, deputy head of the Zaporozhye Regional Council Leyla Ibragimova, had already been abducted and then released a few days ago.
On Saturday morning, several hundred demonstrators gathered in front of Melitopol City Hall to demand the release of their mayor.