Ukraine accuses Russia of abducting another mayor in new phase of invasion

Russia’s advance through some parts of Ukraine may have stalled. But in the cities already captured, there has been popular pushback to what appear to be attempts at installing friendly lawmakers and quashing protests.

How Moscow’s forces handle the Ukrainian towns and cities already under its control could provide clues to President Vladimir Putin’s potential endgame for this invasion and the troubles he may encounter. U.S. officials have said that it’s unclear what the ultimate goal of Putin’s military offensive may be. If the plan is to occupy Ukraine, then Ukrainians are showing that there will be significant resistance.

In one video posted to social media and verified by The Washington Post to be in the southern port city of Melitopol, Russian military vehicles earlier this month drove through the street blaring an announcement that demonstrations are prohibited and a curfew runs from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. People responded by booing.

In another video from Melitopol widely circulated Sunday, pro-Russian lawmaker Galina Dalinchenko addressed citizens on local television and said that there are people in the city who are “calling on you to take part in extremist actions” and not to listen to their “provocations.”

That’s a line out of the Kremlin’s playbook: officials in Russia have designated opposition groups and their protests as “extremist,” equating them to terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda.

Dalinchenko said a “committee of the people’s chosen” leaders would be making all administrative decisions in the city.

British intelligence had warned publicly before the invasion that the Kremlin was plannng a similar strategy to replace Ukraine’s president with pro-Moscow politicians. So far, President Volodymyr Zelensky has remained free.

Melitopol, with about 150,000 residents, was among the first cities to fall under Russian military control two weeks ago. Zelensky said that Russian forces had captured the mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, which sparked protests over the weekend. In videos verified by The Washington Post, crowds in the city chanted, “Bring back the mayor” and “Where’s our mayor?”

Videos circulated by Ukrainian officials appeared to show Fedorov being led away by Russian soldiers on Friday with what resembled a hood over his head. Zelensky called the alleged abduction “simple terrorism.”

He said it was the latest in a number of actions against mayors across the country who do not cooperate with Russian forces trying to occupy their cities and towns.

Despite the Russian occupation of the city, Fedorov, who is ethnically Russian, had encouraged recent demonstrations in Melitopol against the invasion.

Russia has accused Fedorov of “terrorist activities,” according to the Associated Press. The prosecutor’s office of the Luhansk People’s Republic, a Moscow-backed rebel region in eastern Ukraine, has claimed without presenting evidence that Fedorov was financing the nationalist militia Right Sector to “commit terrorist crimes against Donbas civilians.”