Kyiv [Ukraine]: A new mayor has been appointed in Ukraine’s Melitopol city after the elected mayor was detained by the Russian forces, according to Zaporizhzhia regional administration.
The elected mayor, Ivan Fedorov, was detained by Russian forces on Friday.
Galina Danilchenko, the newly installed mayor was introduced on local TV, CNN reported citing the statement published on the Zaporizhzhia regional administration website.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has posted a hard-hitting statement on its Facebook account that calls the detention of the Melitopol mayor a “war crime.”
Foreign ministry further urged the international community to react immediately to this incident and also to increase pressure on Russia to end its barbaric war against the Ukrainian people,” the statement said.
“The fact of the abduction of the Mayor of Melitopol, along with hundreds of other facts of war crimes by Russian occupiers on the Ukrainian soil, are being carefully documented by law enforcement agencies. The perpetrators of this and other crimes will be brought to the strictest responsibility,” the post said.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke with German chancellor Olaf Scholz, French president Emmanuel Macron and Israel Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and sought help in the release of detained mayor.
On February 24, Russia began a military operation in Ukraine after the Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republic requested help in defending themselves.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the special operation is targeting Ukrainian military infrastructure only and the civilian population is not in danger.
The West, however, denies these claims by the Russians and in response, Western nations have imposed comprehensive sanctions on Moscow. In addition, they introduced sanctions on Belarus for supporting Russia’s operation in Ukraine.