“I demand the immediate and unconditional release of all local public officials in Ukraine and condemn the abhorrent practice of abduction and detention,” said Leendert Verbeek, President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, on Monday 5 September.
Since the beginning of the war, more than 50 local officials, including 34 mayors from different regions of Ukraine, have been abducted by Russian forces, he said, adding that to date, the mayors of...