Ukrainian mayor kidnapped by Russian forces; President Zelenskyy calls it 'war crime'

In a major development from Ukraine, the Russian soldiers who are advancing their military actions in Ukraine, have kidnapped Ivan Fedorov, the mayor of Southern Ukraine's Melitopol city on Friday, March 11. Informing about the same, Anton Gerashchenko, advisor to the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs was the first to report about the same.

According to him, the mayor was kidnapped after he refused to co-operate with the Russian military who are trying to occupy the city. Later, he was detained at the city crisis center where he was in charge of the city's life support. Confirming the same, the Ukrainian Parliament also took to Twitter and said that a group of 10 occupiers have kidnapped the mayor of Melitopol in the Zaporizhzhya region, Ivan Fedorov. It also added that a plastic bag was put on his head. 

Reacting to the same, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also confirmed the abduction and called Fedorov "a brave mayor who bravely defended Ukraine and the members of the community."

Also calling it a "war crime against democracy", Zelenskyy assured that 100% of the people in all democratic countries will know about it and the actions of Russian occupiers will be equated with those of the Islamic State terrorists.

Notably, as Melitopol continues to remain under the temporary control of the Russian forces, this came a few days after Serhiy Kyrychuk, a participant in a rally against Russia's invasion was similarly abducted. Apart from that, the deputy of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Council, Leyla Ibragimova, was also abducted but was later released.

Image: AP/Twitter/@UA_Parliament