Ukraine accused Russia on Wednesday of having tortured to death the mayor of a town in the south of the country, detained by Russian forces in 2022, and whose body was recently returned by Moscow in an exchange.
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Yevgen Matveyev, the mayor of Dniprorudne, “was held captive by the occupiers for two years and eight months and tortured to death. In the last exchange, his body was returned to Ukraine,” Ivan Fedorov, the governor of the southern Zaporizhia region, wrote on Telegram.
The locality of Dniprorudne, whose population was estimated at 17,700 inhabitants before the war, is located in the Zaporizhia region which Moscow partially annexed in 2022.
Mr Fedorov described the former mayor as a “true patriot”.
“During the occupation, he did not leave the city or its inhabitants and did everything to ensure the life of the community,” he explained in his message published on Telegram.
In March 2022, the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs at the time, Dmitro Kuleba, called on the international community to react to the disappearance of Mayor Yevgen Matveyev.
President of the European Council at the time, Charles Michel also requested his release.
At the end of March 2022, Kyiv warned of the disappearance of 14 local officials from territories conquered by Russian forces.
Despite high-intensity fighting continuing after nearly three years of Russian invasion, Kyiv and Moscow continue to regularly exchange prisoners of war as well as the bodies of killed soldiers and civilians. The last body swap was at the end of November.
