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Session in the Ukrainian Parliament (archive)
Photo: Pavlo Bahmut / imago images / Ukrinform
According to Ukrainian sources, Russian soldiers kidnapped the mayor of the occupied southern Ukrainian city of Melitopol.
Ivan Fedorov was abducted by a group of "ten occupiers" during a visit to the Melitopol crisis center on Friday when he wanted to deal with supply issues, the Ukrainian parliament said on Twitter.
"He refused to cooperate with the enemy," the statement said.
The deputy head of Ukraine's presidential administration, Kirillo Tymoshenko, published a video via the messenger service Telegram, in which soldiers come out of a building some distance away, carrying with them a man dressed in black, whose head appears to be in a black sack.
At the moment it could not be verified whether the man is Fedorov.
Parliament reports more kidnappings
Before the Russian invasion on February 24, Melitopol had a population of just over 150,000.
The city is around 120 kilometers south of Zaporizhia, whose nuclear power plant was also occupied by Russian troops.
According to the parliament in Kyiv, the deputy chairwoman of the Zaporizhia regional council, Leyla Ibragimova, was kidnapped and released a few days ago.
Something similar happened to Serhiy Kyrychuk, a participant in a rally against the Russian occupiers.
rai/AFP