Russian military forces have appointed a new mayor for the besieged city of Melitopol – one day after a group of 10 Russian soldiers kidnapped the elected mayor.
It was Galina Danilchenko, a former member of the city council Announced the acting mayor On local television on Saturday, CNN reported.
Mayor Ivan Fedorov Taken from the crisis center in Melitopol The Verkhovna Rada said, on Friday, that his head was covered with a plastic bag after he “refused to cooperate with the enemy”.
More than 2,000 residents of the Russian-occupied city in the Kremlin-backed rebel Luhansk region staged a rally in support of Fedorov on Saturday, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky demanded his immediate release.
But Danilchenko said in a televised statement that she aims to “return the city to normal” and warned against those who “provoke a reaction of bad behaviour”.
Get the latest Updates On the conflict between Russia and Ukraine with live coverage of The Post.
“I ask you to keep your wits about you and not succumb to these provocations,” she said.
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