The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has called on the international community to immediately respond to the kidnapping of Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov and other civilians in Ukraine by Russian occupants. This was reported by the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry on its Facebook page.
"The armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine is accompanied by gross violations of the norms and principles of international law, in particular international humanitarian law, war crimes and crimes against humanity, as well as other human rights violations by the Russian army. One of such gross violations was the kidnapping of Melitopol mayor Ivan Fedorov on March 11," the report reads.
As noted, Russian troops, who have been launching missile and bomb attacks on civilian objects and infrastructure in Ukraine for the second week, in particular children's hospitals and schools, cynically accused the mayor of "terrorism.
The kidnapping of the mayor of Melitopol qualifies as a war crime under the Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocol I, which prohibit the taking of civilian hostages in time of war.
The Foreign Ministry called on the international community to immediately respond to the kidnapping of Ivan Fyodorov and other civilians in Ukraine and to increase pressure on Russia to force it to stop its barbaric war against Ukrainians.
It was reported that the facts of the theft of the mayor of Melitopol, as well as hundreds of other facts of war crimes of the Russian occupiers in Ukraine, are carefully documented by law enforcers. The perpetrators of this and other crimes will be held strictly accountable.
We shall remind you that on March 11, a group of Russian occupants kidnapped the mayor of Melitopol Ivan Fedorov, who refused to cooperate with the enemy.
