Ivan Fedorov, Mayor of this occupied city of 150,000 inhabitants, was arrested on March 11 and then exchanged for Russian soldiers. Came to Paris to meet Emmanuel Macron, he entrusted his story to the “world”.
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It happens with a pressed step, his two phones in his hand, backpack on the shoulder and black polar with the escutcheon of his country. The mayor of the occupied city of Melitopol, in southern Ukraine, kidnapped by the Russians on March 11 for five days, does not have time to apacinate on his fate. This Friday, April 1, Ivan Fedorov is in Paris to meet Emmanuel Macron, alert Europe and show Russia’s practices in the territories it controls since the beginning of the offensive in Ukraine . The 33-year-old elected, who runs this city of 150,000 inhabitants, tells the world how the course of his life and the citizens of his city rocked on February 24th.
“The war started at Melitopol from the first day of the invasion, he explains, frank eyes and dark circles around the eyes. Russian soldiers encircled the city and pulled with rockets on military bases only 200 meters from the residential neighborhoods. “
The electrical system, heating, access to water and the internet are then cut net. “The next day, we tried to repair. With our team, we then decided not to get out of Melitopol and wait for help.” The city falls under the control of the Russians forty-eight hours later.
as in other busy cities, the Russian S Discover then that they are not welcome and attend, messy, to demonstrations of hundreds of inhabitants exhorting them to “go home”. “The occupants became more and more aggressive. [The Russians] thought to win the war in three days, and realized that it was impossible.”
Refusal to resign
Soldiers are trying to dissuade protesters by force by pulling in the legs of some of them. Two civilians are wounded. “It did not happen again, because they understood that otherwise, people would manifest even more.” The Russians then opt for another method: kidnappings, which has become commonplace. In a week, at least fifteen people are kidnapped in Melitopol. The soldiers make their tracking during the manifestations, then people disappear brutally.
On March 11, Ivan Fedorov works in the Population Help Center, set up in the first days of the war, when a dozen armed men burst, seize the mayor and take it. Outside, ten cars are waiting for it. “I did not understand anything, tells the elected. They told me they stopped because I had links with a Radical Party of the Ukrainian right, while I do not know anyone of this faction.” Ivan Fedorov is the first Ukrainian mayor to have been removed.
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