The Russian military has taken the mayors of 14 Ukrainian cities hostage, UNIAN reports, citing Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk. She noted that Russia agreed to the exchange of prisoners only on «parity» conditions.
«Here Russia demands parity, like border guards for border guards, sailors for sailors. I have a logical question: who are we going to offer in exchange for the heads of the cities, 14 of which are already held hostage by Russia? So far, we have been solving this issue at the international level,» Vereshchuk said.
Earlier, Russia exchanged the kidnapped mayor of MelitopolIvan Fedorov for 9 prisoners of war, some of whom were conscripts.
It was also reported that Oleksandr Shapovalov, mayor of Berislav in the Kherson region, and Yevhen Matveev, mayor of Dniprorudnyi in the Zaporizhzhya region, had been kidnapped.