Ukrainian local official abducted for second time by Russians near occupied Kherson

On 18 September, the Facebook page of the Russian-occupied Stanislav Rural Territorial Hromada (community), Kherson Oblast, shared a journalistic report that the Russian occupation authorities abducted Stanislav Hromada Head Ivan Samoilenko for the second time. As journalist Oleh Baturin noted, the Russians abducted Ivan Samoilenko on 15 September. Members of the occupation "commandant's office" from the village of Shyroka Balka detained him. Previously, on June 25, Kherson Regional Council deputy Serhii Khlan reported the first abduction of Samoilenko by the Russians.

Ukrainian official abducted for second time by Russian occupation forces in Kherson Oblast

Russians detained Head of Stanislav Rural Community Ivan Samoilenko reportedly on Sep 15. Previously they abducted him in June but released him sometime laterhttps://t.co/6OlrmxuALW pic.twitter.com/mW1BQfHvyc

— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) September 19, 2022

Multiple Ukrainian officials have been abducted in the occupied territories. Some of them get released from the Russian prisons sometime later, but the fate of others remains unknown. Update: Russian occupation forces released the Head of Stanislav Hromada, Ivan Samoilenko, whom they abducted several days ago.

"After my 5-day absence, I continue to work together with you on solving problematic issues related to the energy supply, water supply, and gas supply of our Stanislav community," Ivan Samoilenko wrote on his Facebook page.