Mayor of Dniprorudne city, in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, may have been killed in Russian captivity, prosecutors say

The body of Yevhen Matveiev, the mayor of the occupied Dniprorudne in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, who died in Russian captivity, was returned to Ukraine in November this year with signs of violent death, the Zaporizhzhia Regional Prosecutor’s Office told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Russian forces have systematically abducted Ukrainian civilians, local officials, and military personnel during the ongoing invasion. These captives are often held in makeshift detention centers, underground facilities, and former prisons, where they experience severe physical and psychological torture, including beatings, electric shock, starvation, and isolation.

According to a medical death certificate, the mayor died over six months ago. Ukraine’s law enforcement has launched a criminal investigation into Matveiev’s death under charges of war crimes by Russian troops. The maximum possible punishment is life imprisonment. A forensic medical examination is ongoing.

Russian invaders abducted the mayor of Dniprorudne in March 2022. Matveiev remained in captivity for two years and eight months.

On 4 December 2024, the Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration announced that Russia returned his body to Ukraine during the latest exchange. They clarified that on 13 March 2022, the mayor had been informed by phone about a bus carrying shift workers of the Zaporizhzhia Iron Ore Plant being detained by occupiers at a checkpoint.

Matveiev immediately went to the scene. While the miners were released, the mayor was taken captive, according to Espreso.

Commenting on the news of Matveiev’s death, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that as of December 2024, at least six Ukrainian mayors and community heads remain in Russian captivity.

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