Zelensky demands release Melitopol Mayor captured by Russian Troops

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine has cried out that the Mayor of Melitopol in southern Ukraine has been captured by the Russian soldiers who have taken over the city.

The Ukrainian parliament also stated on Twitter: “A group of 10 occupiers kidnapped the mayor of Melitopol Ivan Fedorov.

“He refused to cooperate with the enemy.”

The Ukrainian authorities said that the Mayor was captured when he was at the city’s crisis centre dealing with supply issues.

Zelensky in a video message, revealed the capture of the mayor, describing Fedorov “a mayor who bravely defends Ukraine and the members of his community.”

The President further declared: “This is obviously a sign of weakness of the invaders… They have moved to a new stage of terror in which they are trying to physically eliminate representatives of legitimate local Ukrainian authorities.

“The capture of the mayor of Melitopol is, therefore, a crime, not only against a particular person, against a particular community, and not only against Ukraine. “It is a crime against democracy itself… The acts of the Russian invaders will be regarded like those of Islamic State terrorists.”

The deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential administration, Kirillo Timoshenko, had posted a video on Telegram, relaying soldiers coming out of a building holding a man dressed in black, his head apparently covered with a black bag.

The Ukrainian parliament further revealed that another regional official, the deputy head of the regional council of Zaporizhzhia, 120 kilometres (75 miles) north of Melitopol, was captured and then released a few days ago.