Invaders resort to kidnapping Ukraine’s resistance movement leaders, says NSDC
Invading Russian troops are abducting the leaders of the Ukrainian resistance movement, the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine said in a statement on its Facebook page on March 14.
Since March 11 Russian forces have abducted a number of Ukrainian officials in occupied territory, the center noted.
The following officials have been kidnapped in Zaporizhzhya Oblast: the mayor of the town of Dniprorudne, Yevhen Matveyev, the mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, the chairman of the Melitopol district council, Serhiy Pryma, the co-organizer of pro-Ukrainian rallies in the city of Melitopol, Olha Haymusova, and the deputy of the Zaporizhzhya Oblast council, Leyla Ibrahimova.
“All these people have one thing in common – loyalty to Ukraine,” the agency writes.
“They refused to cooperate with the enemy – this dispelled once and for all their hopes for a warm welcome.”
The Center for Countering Disinformation notes that the enemy’s next steps are to appoint their puppets to "vacant" posts, but insisted that the aggressor's forces can only count on criminal liability for treason.
“By resorting to terror in the occupied territories, the aggressor is trying to break the morale of people and sell them a submissive existence,” the agency notes.
“However, Melitopol has shown that the morale of Ukrainians is indestructible.”
According to Interior Ministry advisor Anton Herashchenko, Melitopol mayor Federal was kidnapping for refusing to collaborate with Russian invaders. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky later said that the invaders were torturing the mayor to force him to record a video in support of the Russian war against Ukraine.
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