Ukrainian officials said that a mayor captured during the initial invasion of the country was tortured to death in a Russian jail.
The body of Yevhen Matveyev, the mayor of Dniprorudne in eastern Ukraine, was returned by Russia as part of a body swap. Matveyev had been taken prisoner in 2022 during the initial stages of the invasion when Russian forces took control of the Zaporizhzhia region.
However, the Zaporizhzhia regional governor, Ivan Fedorov, said that Matveyev had been tortured to death, blaming Russia for the mayor's death.
"He was held captive by the occupiers for two years and eight months and tortured to death," Fedorov said on social media. "During the last exchange, his body was returned to Ukraine.
"During the occupation, he did not leave the city or the people and did everything to ensure the life of the community."
Federov had called for Matveyev's return after his initial capture in 2022, which also received attention from the Ukrainian foreign minister at the time, Dmytro Kuleba. This attention led to European Council President Charles Michel also calling on Russia to release Matveyev.
Ukraine recovered Matveyev's body along with over 500 other fallen soldiers and civilians, including 17 from morgues in Russia, as part of an exchange of prisoners of war between the two countries. These exchanges have continued consistently since the invasion first began.
Newsweek reached out to the Russian Ministry of Defense for comment via email.
The death comes amid increasing tensions in the war as both sides escalate firepower. The Kursk region, where Ukraine made its first push into Russian territory since the invasion began, has seen significant attention from Moscow as the military attempts to retake ground secured by Ukrainian forces.
As he approaches his final days in the White House, U.S. President Joe Biden has taken a more active approach to the conflict. A new $725 million package containing advanced surface-to-air missile systems was sent to Ukraine, and Biden changed the U.S. stance on long-range missile strikes within the Russian border.
This led to a Ukrainian strike on the Kursk region last week, conducted with Anglo-French Storm Shadow missiles, which are precision-guided weapons that Ukraine was previously barred from using to target Russian territory.
The strike is thought to have targeted a command center for the Russian armed forces located within a presidential compound at the Maryino Estate, according to The Moscow Times.
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