Video appears to show Russian forces abduct mayor of Ukrainian city

Video seems to indicate the mayor of the Ukrainian metropolis of Melitopol being kidnapped by Russian forces on Friday.

The footage, shared by the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine, exhibits an individual with their head coated in a black bag being led out of an workplace constructing by troopers.

Mayor Ivan Fedorov was taken from town’s disaster middle by a bunch of about 10 Russian troops – who put a plastic bag over his head – after he “refused to cooperate with the enemy,” Ukraine’s parliament said in a statement on Twitter.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in contrast Russian troopers to “ISIS terrorists” in response to the kidnapping.

“They have transitioned into a new stage of terror, in which they try to physically liquidate representatives of Ukraine’s lawful local authorities,” Zelensky stated in a video tackle Friday night time.

The prosecutor’s workplace of the Luhansk People’s Republic, a Moscow-backed insurgent area in japanese Ukraine, claimed there was a felony case in opposition to Fedorov, accusing him of “terrorist activities.”

But Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry shot down the terrorism accusations in opposition to the mayor and referred to as the kidnapping a battle crime. It urged Ukraine’s allies to step up strain on Russia in response to the mayor’s abduction and continued assaults on civilians.

“We urge the international community to immediately react to the abduction of Ivan Fedorov and other civilians in Ukraine, to strengthen pressure on Russia to force it to end the barbaric war against the Ukrainian people,” the ministry said in a statement on Facebook.

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“The facts of the kidnapping of the mayor of Melitopol, as well as hundreds of other facts of war crimes of Russian occupiers on Ukrainian land, are carefully documented by law enforcement agencies. The culprits of this and other crimes will be brought to the harshest accountability.”

Melitopol, a metropolis of about 150,000 folks in southern Ukraine, is presently below Russian management, officers stated.

Ukraine’s parliament stated Russian forces detained civilians throughout protests in opposition to Moscow’s occupation, together with a regional councilwoman, who was later launched.

Over 2.5 million Ukrainians have been displaced since Russia launched its invasion over two weeks in the past on Feb. 24, and a whole lot of civilians have been confirmed killed within the violence, in response to the United Nations.