Mayor of Melitopol Kidnapped By Russian Soldiers, Ukrainian Officials Say

LVIV, Ukraine — The mayor of Melitopol is the form of individual Russian troopers may need believed would have welcomed them with open arms and flowers.

Ivan Fyodorov, as his identify suggests, is an ethnic Russian in a southern Ukrainian metropolis the place Russian is often spoken and the place ties to Russia run deep.

On Friday night, Mr. Fyodorov had a bag thrown over his head and was dragged from a authorities workplace constructing by armed Russian troopers, in accordance with Ukrainian officers. Video filmed in Melitopol’s Victory Sq. seems to indicate somebody being escorted out of a authorities constructing by troopers. The Instances can not confirm the identification of the folks within the video.

Since Russian forces captured his metropolis within the first days of the battle, he had inspired resistance, incomes him the assist of the general public and the ire of the occupying military.

On Saturday, tons of of his townspeople poured out into the streets in an expression of concern and defiance, regardless of the presence of troops on their streets.

“Return the mayor!” they shouted, witnesses stated and movies confirmed. “Free the mayor!”

However almost as quickly as folks gathered, the Russians moved to close them down, arresting a girl who they stated had organized the demonstration, in accordance with two witnesses and the girl’s Fb account.

The episode is a part of what Ukrainian officers say is a sample of intimidation and repression that’s rising extra brutal. It additionally illustrates an issue that Russia is more likely to face even when it manages to pummel cities and cities into submission: In no less than a number of the few cities and cities that Russia has managed to grab — principally within the south and east — they’re going through common unrest and revolt.

For anybody who believed the Kremlin propaganda that Russia was on a mission to save lots of Ukraine from drug addled neo-Nazis, Melitopol was the form of metropolis, run by the form of mayor, that ought to have considered the Russian troops as liberators.

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine stated that the kidnapping of the mayor demonstrated the falsehood underlying the Russian invasion.

“For years they’ve been mendacity to themselves that individuals in Ukraine have been supposedly ready for Russia to come back,” he stated. “They didn’t discover collaborators who would hand over town and the facility to the invaders.”

And he sought to faucet into public rage in two videotaped speeches launched on Saturday.

“The entire nation noticed that Melitopol didn’t give up to the invaders,” he stated. “Simply as Kherson, Berdyansk and different cities the place Russian troops managed to enter didn’t — briefly managed to enter. And this won’t be modified by placing stress on mayors or kidnapping mayors.”

After folks took to the streets, he praised their braveness and advised the battle lacked common assist amongst Russians.

“Do you hear it, Moscow?” he requested. “If 2,000 persons are protesting in opposition to the occupation in Melitopol, how many individuals needs to be in Moscow in opposition to the battle?”

Mr. Zelelnsky stated he had raised the destiny of the mayor in calls with the leaders of Germany and France.

“We anticipate them, the world leaders, to indicate how they will affect the scenario,” he stated. “How they will do a easy factor — free one individual, an individual who represents your entire Melitopol group, Ukrainians who don’t surrender.”

Melitopol lies solely a brief distance from Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014. The town got here underneath fierce assault on the primary day of the battle, Feb. 24, and Russian troopers entered solely days later. Whereas town fell, Mr. Fyodorov remained defiant.

“We’re not cooperating with the Russians in any method,” he stated.

As resistance has grown extra brazen, the Russian techniques have grown extra brutal, in accordance with the Ukrainian authorities and witnesses. The Basic Employees of the Armed Forces of Ukraine stated on Friday that Russian troopers have been committing robberies, taking hostages and executing civilians. The stories of executions and hostage taking couldn’t be independently verified, however there have been a number of witness accounts, typically recorded on video, of Russian troopers looting shops and houses.

Mr. Zelensky stated the kidnapping of the mayor was a part of a broader shift in techniques. “They’ve switched to a brand new stage of terror, when they’re making an attempt to bodily eradicate representatives of the authentic native Ukrainian authorities,” he stated.

Final weekend, folks waving the blue and gold of the Ukrainian flag took to the streets of Melitopol and different occupied cities.

For essentially the most half, Russian troopers stood apart, whilst protesters commandeered a Russian armored automobile in a single city and drove it by way of the streets.

Mr. Fyodorov inspired the demonstration. In his most up-to-date publish on Fb, he thanked enterprise leaders who have been serving to the group within the second of strife. “Collectively we’ll overcome something!” he wrote.

His location is now unknown.

Muyi Xiao and Dmitriy Khavin contributed reporting.