Melitopol has a new Russian backed mayor installed days after Ivan Fedorov was escorted from the building. Kherson has also fallen under Russian control after a few days of resistance.
Fedorov was accused of terrorism and was under investigation by the Russian-backed Luhansk regional prosecutor a short time afterward. Fedorov is suspected of helping and funding terrorist acts. He is also accused of being a member of a criminal community. This is according to a notice on the Luhansk prosecutor’s website.
Fedorov’s capture by armed men is the first reported imprisonment of a Ukrainian political official by Russian or Russian-backed troops. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky demanded his immediate release, saying it was a “crime against democracy”. He added that Russia has “switched to a new stage of terror” in its invasion by “trying to physically eliminate representatives of the legitimate local Ukrainian authorities.”
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry called Fedorov’s detention an “abduction” and a “war crime.” Hundreds of people protested the kidnapping outside Melitopol’s city hall. The crowd was chanting “Freedom for the Mayor.”
Galina Danilchenko, a former member of the city council, is now the new mayor. She was assigned by the Zaporozhye regional administration on Saturday.
Danilchenko said that her “main task is to take all necessary steps to get the city back to normal.”
In Lviv, reports of Russian military airstrikes filled the news. Among the ones hit was the International Peacekeeping and Security Center (IPSC). It is a huge military base in the northwestern city of Lviv. It is predominantly kept for peace-seeking missions. Russia fired eight missiles near Lviv, the regional government said. Officials are looking into whether there are casualties.