The mayor of Ukraine’s southern city of Melitopol was kidnapped by Russian forces last Friday after he refused to cooperate with the invaders.
After condemnation by other nations and intense negotiations, Mayor Ivan Fedorov was freed in exchange for nine captured Russian conscripts.
In the moving phone call shared by the Ukrainian government, Ivan Fedorov thanked the president for not ‘abandoning’ him to which Zelensky replied:
‘We don’t abandon our own.’
On Wednesday a video posted on Telegram showed President Volodymyr Zelensky speaking to him on the phone and telling him he was ‘happy to hear the voice of a man alive’.