The ‘kidnapped’ mayor of a southern city in Ukraine has been freed days after he was abducted by Russian troops.
According to reports, Melitopol’s mayor Ivan Fedorov thanked Ukrainian President Vlodymyr Zelensky for not ‘abandoning’ him after he was swapped for nine captured Russian soldiers.
He also said in a phone call that he will serve again after “one or two days to recover.”
CCTV footage showed the moment Fedorov had a plastic bag over his head while he was escorted by ten armed men.
Zelensky called for help from France and Germany to secure the mayor’s release.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell also condemned the abduction in a post on Twitter.
According to reports, Fedorov was kidnapped because he “refused to cooperate with the enemy.”
A video shared on Telegram showed Zelensky speaking to Federov on the phone, telling him that he was “happy to hear the voice of a man alive.”
The mayor, who was captured while dealing with supply problems at the city’s crisis center, replied that he is “much better.”
“Thank you for not abandoning me. I will need one or two days to recover and then I will be at your disposal to contribute to our victory,” he said, to which Zelensky replied: “We don’t abandon our own.”
A spokesperson for the Ukrainian Presidency, Dasha Zarivna, said on television that Federov was swapped for nine Russian soldiers aged 20 and 21.
“These are basically children, conscripts, who according to the Russian defense ministry are not present in Ukraine,” she said.
“But the whole world sees again that they are there.”
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