‘CRIME AGAINST DEMOCRACY’

Russia Shows Off New Melitopol Mayor After Kidnapping Elected Mayor

The new mayor was debuted on television and said her “main task is to take all necessary steps to get the city back to normal.”

After Russian forces kidnapped the elected mayor of Melitopol, Ukraine, on Friday, a new mayor has been installed in the occupied city. Galina Danilchenko was formerly a member of the city council and was debuted on television to the city—which did not elect her—as the new mayor, CNN reports. She made clear in a televised statement that her “main task is to take all necessary steps to get the city back to normal” and suggested organizing a “People’s Choice Committee” to “solve all the critical issues for Melitopol and the Melitopol region.” The Washington Post reports that Ivan Fedorov, whose mayoral office Danilchenko now occupies, was reportedly hooded and abducted by 10 Russian soldiers and charged with terrorism. The act sparked protests in the city, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called it “a crime against democracy.”