Ivan Fedorov, mayor of the Ukrainian city of Melitopol in the Zaporizhzhia Oblast, was reportedly taken to Russian-controlled Luhansk in eastern Ukraine after being kidnapped last week by Russian forces, Ukrainian media reported late Monday night, citing the Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration (RMA).
Fedorov was reportedly abducted by Russian forces on Friday. The claims were later supported by videos shared by CNN, which stated that it had verified their authenticity, of Russian soldiers outside a municipal building in Melitopol.
Reports of the mayor being taken to Luhansk follow the prosecutor's office in the Russian-backed breakaway state of the Luhansk People's Republic opening a criminal case against him to charge him with terrorism.
The Luhansk People's Republic is one of two breakaway states in eastern Ukraine's Donbas region under the control of pro-Russia separatists. Only Moscow has recognized their claims of independence.
This also follows reports on Sunday of Russian forces installing a new mayor in the city.
Protests have occurred throughout Melitopol calling for Fedorov's freedom.
On Sunday, Ukraine's Deputy Interior Minister Yevhen Yenin said on TV that Ukraine was taking "certain measures" to free Fedorov from Russian captivity, Pravda reported. Further, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed on Twitter that he asked Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to "assist in the release of the captive mayor of Melitopol."
Fedorov is not the only mayor of a Ukrainian city in the Zaporizhzhia Oblast to have reportedly been kidnapped by Russian forces.
On Sunday, reports from the Zaporizhzhia Region State Administration said that Russian forces had kidnapped Dniprorudne Mayor Yevgeny Matveyev.
This was corroborated by Ukrainian MP Lesia Vasylenko, who referred to it as a "terrorist tactics to install puppet regimes at [a] local level," as well as by Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration spokesperson Ivan Arefiev.
According to this recent statement by the Zaporizhzhia RMA, Matveyev's current status is unknown.
This is a developing story.