The Ukrainian mayor of the Ukrainian city Melitopolisnow under Russian control, described hours of “harsh” interrogations during a week-long detention by Russian forces last month and called on the pope to help end a war that has devastated half the city. of.
«It was six dangerous days “Because I realized that for the Russians, my life and the lives of civilians have zero value,” said Ivan Fedorov, the mayor of the southern Ukrainian city, in an interview in Rome a month after his release.
Kyiv said Fedorov was abducted on March 11 after Russian forces occupied Melitopol, west of the besieged city of Mariupol in a southern Russian-controlled area. Kyiv announced the release of Fedorov in an exchange of detainees on March 16.
Moscow, which has called its military invasion of Ukraine a “special military operation”, has not commented on the mayor’s detention or the exchange of prisoners announced by Ukraine.
Fedorov, who met with Pope Francis and Vatican Prime Minister Cardinal Pietro Parolin on Saturday before attending a Catholic Easter service, said he had asked the Vatican to mediate with Russian President Vladimir Putin over for Mariupol, which is facing catastrophic bombing.
Describing his detention by Russian forces at the Melitopol police station, Fedorov said: “They came to me in the middle of the night with five or seven soldiers and talked for about four or five hours, with a hard dialogue.”
“They wanted to set an example through me of what would happen if we did not agree with what the Russians wanted,” the mayor told Reuters and the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero that he had suffered “psychological” but not physical torture.
“The Russian soldiers assumed they would be welcomed, but that did not happen … and that is why the Russians were very, very angry,” he said on Sunday night.
“There is no food in my city. There is no pharmacy. Half of my city has been destroyed. More than 200 people have been abducted. “It’s not safe to walk on the streets,” he said.
The occupation of Melitopol, Mariupol and the southern coast will give Russian forces a land link between pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine and Crimea, annexed by Moscow in 2014. Russia has said it has almost complete control of Mariupol. .
Fedorov, who said he remained in regular contact with the people of Melitopol, stressed that he had invited the pope to visit Ukraine because “perhaps he can stop this war.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also summoned the pope, promising to guarantee his safety.
The head of the Roman Catholic Church silently criticized Russia, calling for an end to a war with unwarranted aggression and invasion. Addressing Fedorov and other Ukrainians on the eve of Easter, the pope said: “Take courage, we are with you.”
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