Ukraine said Wednesday that the body of a mayor caught by Russian forces in the Zaporizhzhia region at the start of the major invasion in 2022, who supposedly passed away in their captivity, had been returned by Moscow.Moscow took swathes of the Zaporizhzhia region in the days after the intrusion began, including the town of Dniprorudne, and arrested its mayor Yevhen Matveyev, Kyiv says.He was held captive by the occupiers for 2 years and 8 months and tortured to death.
During the last exchange, his body was gone back to Ukraine, Zaporizhzhia local governor Ivan Fedorov said.There was no immediate reaction to the claims from Moscow.Russian forces swept through the industrial area in the south of the nation and claimed to have annexed the area in September 2022.
Dniprorudne, which pushes the Dnipro River, had an approximated pre-war population of 17,736.
Fedorov explained Matveyev as a true patriot.During the occupation, he did not leave the city or individuals, and did whatever to guarantee the life of the neighborhood, he stated on social media.Fedorov was himself briefly held by Russian forces in March 2022 when he acted as the mayor of the southern city of Melitopol that fell to Moscow.In March 2022, then-Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba called for a global response to Matveyevs disappearance.European Council President Charles Michel likewise required the mayors release.In late March 2022, Kyiv sounded the alarm over the disappearance of 14 local officials from territories caught by Russian forces.Kyiv and Moscow still routinely exchange prisoners of war as well as the bodies of eliminated soldiers and civilians.
The last noted swap was late last month.