Representatives of local self-government of Ukraine are under the sight of the occupying troops of the Russian Federation. Over the period from February 24 to May 8, 2022, the occupiers captured 60 local government representatives, reports the Ministry for Communities and Territories Development, citing the data from oblast military administrations.

“37 people working in local governments have already been released and are relatively safe. Among them there are 20 heads of municipalities. The occupiers still hold 23 local self-government employees and officials captive. Nothing is known about their fate yet. We see the abduction of local government officials as crimes planned by Russia in order to freely multiply other crimes and deprive municipalities’ residents of the closest support. It is the local self-government, along with the Armed Forces of Ukraine, that is strongly resisting the invaders,” said Deputy Minister Vyacheslav Nehoda.

It should be recalled that the Ministry for Communities and Territories Development at all international meetings draws attention to the problem of abduction of local government representatives by the occupiers to find ways to free everyone. Recently, Deputy Minister for Communities and Territories Development Vyacheslav Nehoda during the 15^th meeting of the European Committee on Democracy and Governance (CDDG) asked to protect local self-government officials from abduction, torture, harassment.

Earlier, Oleksiy Chernyshov, Minister for Communities and Territories Development, called local self-government in Ukraine a real army, talking about how skillfully and effectively municipalities face today’s challenges.