In an interview with The Economist, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky explained that the Russian military has killed several Ukrainian mayors.
“The Russians have blocked us from aiding Mariupol, Melitopol, Berdyansk, Kherson, Kharkiv. What are they doing? For example in Melitopol and Berdyansk they’re switching to the ruble.
The mayors of our cities are being kidnapped. They have killed some of them. Some we cannot find. Some we have found, and they are dead. Some were replaced. They are doing the same thing as they did in Donbas in 2014. These operations are being led by the same people. It’s the same methods,” said Zelensky.
He did not provide the names of mayors who have been killed, nor which cities they were mayors of.
The abduction of activists and politicians is a tactic used by the Russians to suppress protests and establish their authority.
Listen also: Father – 75, his abduction by the Russian occupiers – a real mockery – journalist from Melitopol
On March 26, in the Kharkiv region, the Russian occupiers abducted Balaklia Deputy Mayor Serhiy Poltorak and Oleg Bludov, head of the Civil Protection and Law Enforcement Department.
Human rights activist Pavlo Lysyanskyi says that several dozen people are arrested every day in the temporarily occupied Luhansk region. Russian special services have the following procedure: if a person has authority in the community, they are considered dangerous, and are arrested immediately.
Listen also: «This is a method used by Soviet secret services»: how do the «filtration camps» of the Russian Federation in the occupied Luhansk region work?
russian occupiers are organizing child abductions in Ukraine – State Border Guard Service
russian military killed several abducted Ukrainian mayors — Zelensky
We think Putin is strong, but he is an old, frightened KGB man — says a psychiatrist
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