Mayor kidnapped in March
Fedorow denies Germany a leadership role
4/22/2022, 3:08 p.m
The city’s mayor, Ivan Fedorov, who was briefly kidnapped after the Russian conquest of Melitopol, currently does not see Germany as a leading supporter of Ukraine. At ntv, however, he distinguishes between the German population and the federal government.
The mayor of the Ukrainian city of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, who was briefly kidnapped in March, has called on the German government to play a committed role in supporting Ukraine. “We simply expect Germany to take the lead in supporting Ukraine.” Germany is a leader in many things, “but not in support for Ukraine,” Fedorov said in an interview with ntv during a visit to Berlin.
In Germany and also in the European Union, one must understand that it is not about a war between Russia and Ukraine, but “a war of the Russian Federation against the civilian world,” said Fedorov. There is a lot of support from the public, but not enough support from the German government, the mayor said.
Referring to the current situation in Melitopol in the south of the country, Fedorov said: “The Russians have now stopped all humanitarian aid, they are blocking our city completely and we cannot send any humanitarian aid.” When asked about more mass graves in the Mariupol area, Fedorov said that Russian soldiers were trying to commit genocide: “Putin wants to kill the Ukrainian nationality, he wants to kill the Ukrainian patriots.”
Melitopol is a good 150 kilometers west of Mariupol in southern Ukraine and has been under Russian control since the end of February. Fedorov was abducted in mid-March and released a little later – according to his own statements as part of a prisoner exchange. The Russians had installed their own governor in Melitopol. Fedorov is currently traveling in Europe. During a visit to the EU Parliament in the middle of this week, he called for more weapons for Ukraine.