Since 24 February 2022, Russia has kidnapped 132 representatives of Ukrainian local government and authorities, reports the ZMINA Human Rights Center.
More than half of the abductions (71) occurred in Kherson Region. Another 30 cases occurred in Zaporizhzhya region. Human rights activists collected information both during interviews with victims and from open sources.
According to the Human Rights Center, 50% of the detainees are community leaders and mayors, and about 22% are local deputies. The majority (98 officials) have been released. Currently, 14 people are in Russian captivity. The fate of 16 abductees is unknown, and four were found dead.
"The fate of those who are still in captivity is often unknown: Russia usually does not confirm their whereabouts, and they often do not have any official status. We don't know anything for sure about their health status, conditions of detention, cases of violence, etc.", - said Borys Petrunyok, a researcher and documentary filmmaker at the ZMINA Human Rights Center.
The occupiers abducted most officials during the first months of the full-scale invasion. According to Petruniok, local government officials became one of the first targets of the enemy.
Among the abductees is Oleksandr Babych, the mayor of the Holoprystan city territorial community, who is still in captivity. The Russians abducted Babych from his home on 28 March 2022. According to unofficial information, the Ukrainian is currently being held in Simferopol Detention Center No. 2. However, the Russian side refuses to recognise this.
In addition, Anatoliy Siryy, the head of the village of Novi Borovychi, Chernihiv Region, who was abducted by the occupiers from the village council on 29 March 2022, is still in Russian captivity. During his detention, he was interrogated, beaten and abused. Then he was taken in an unknown direction. Mr. Siryy's whereabouts are unknown.
The head of the Tsyrkunivka village military administration, Mykola Sikalenko, was first abducted by Russians on 3 March 2022. The second time Sikalenko was taken on 21 March. Then he was held for about a week, transported to different places in the Kharkiv Region. Each time, a bag was put over his head and his hands were tied, he was not given food and was not allowed to sleep. After the de-occupation of the Kharkiv Region, the man was released, but while he was in captivity, the occupiers robbed his house.
Oleksandr Slobozhan, Executive Director of the Association of Ukrainian Cities, said that the AUC had engaged the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, the Committee of the Regions of the European Parliament, the Red Cross, and UN agencies in the release of the officials.
Slobozhan called for the dismissal of Kherson Mayor Ihor Kolikhayev, Dniprorudne Mayor Yevhen Matveev, and Hola Prystan Mayor Oleksandr Babych.
In the spring, Kherson police reported that Russian troops had kidnapped the head of a village in the temporarily occupied Skadovsk district.
Last autumn, the occupiers released Ivan Samoylenko, head of the Stanislavska community in Kherson Region.
According to the Associated Press, thousands of Ukrainian civilians are being held by Russians in a network of official and unofficial prisons across Russia and the occupied territories of Ukraine, where people endure torture, psychological abuse, and even slave labor.