A kidnapped Ukrainian mayor has been released from Russian captivity after an apparent prisoner swap.
Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov has been exchanged for nine captured Russian soldiers, reports say.
Mr Fedorov, 33, was snatched by Kremlin troops on March 11 after refusing to co-operate following the capture of Melitopol.
The Ukrainian newspaper Ukrayinska Pravda reports that the mayor spoke to President Volodymyr Zelensky after the successful prisoner exchange.
Deputy Head of the Ukrainian President's Office Kyrylo Tymoshenko wrote on Telegram: "A special operation to release Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov has just been successfully completed.
"We have just talked to the President and the head of the Office."
Footage showed Mr Zelensky speaking to Mr Fedorov over the phone, telling him: “I am very happy that we got you back… very glad to hear your voice.”
The mayor told the President that he hopes to return to work in his city soon.
In an address on Friday, March 11, Mr Zelensky described his colleague as "a mayor who bravely defends Ukraine and the members of his community".
It was later claimed by a Russian separatist prosecutor in Luhansk that Fedorov was being investigated for terrorism offences.
The President previously called the abduction a "crime against democracy" and said the acts by Russia would be treated as "terrorism".
Get all the latest news sent to your inbox. Sign up for the free Mirror newsletter
He said: "The capture of the mayor of Melitopol is therefore a crime, not only against a particular person, against a particular community, and not only against Ukraine.
"It is a crime against democracy itself... The acts of the Russian invaders will be regarded like those of Islamic State terrorist."
He added: "They did not find collaborators who would hand over the city and the power to the invaders.
"Therefore, they have switched to a new stage of terror when they are trying to physically eliminate representatives of the legitimate local Ukrainian authorities.
"The whole country saw that Melitopol did not surrender to the invaders, and this will not be changed by putting pressure on mayors or kidnapping mayors."
Chilling footage emerged after the abduction appearing to show the mayor being kidnapped by Russian forces.
A group of men were seen escorting a blindfolded Mr Fedorov out of a building and across a square in a CCTV clip shared on Telegram by the deputy head of Ukraine's presidential office.
The footage - which has been shared widely by the media in Ukraine - is believed to have been taken in the city's Victory Square.
Ukraine's parliament claimed the mayor was kidnapped by a group of 10 armed men who put a plastic bag over his head, Daily Mail reports.
Ukraine's foreign ministry said in a statement: "The abduction of the mayor of Melitopol is classified as a war crime under the Geneva Conventions and the Additional Protocol, which prohibit the taking of civilian hostages during the war."
