Slavutych mayor reveals details of negotiations with the Russians

Svitlana Kizilova — Saturday, 26 March 2022, 13:27

The mayor of Slavutych, Yuri Fomichiv, has been released and is negotiating with the Russian occupiers, who have promised to leave the city shortly. However, it is not known what guarantees there are that the Russians will keep their promise.

Source: Suspilne; Hromadske Radio on Twitter

Details: Hromadske Radio reports that during a live nationwide broadcast, a woman living in Slavutych said that the mayor was now free and was trying to negotiate with the occupiers.

Quote: "The Russians want to leave a roadblock in the city. They are also demanding that there should be no Ukrainian police in Slavutych."

Details: According to Suspilne, the mayor convinced the Russians that there are no weapons in the city, therefore the Russian soldiers should leave. According to him, the occupiers "are not going to search houses", but people must voluntarily hand over any non-hunting weapons.

Quote from Yuri Fomichiv: "This morning I found myself kind of a prisoner. These things happen, because this is war. I told them there are only civilians here, with our Ukrainian flag. We are under the Ukrainian flag and law, all of us are the authority here, we’ll keep on working. This is what the talks were about: if it is confirmed that there are no soldiers here, that we are not fighting in the city, then we’ll stay to work ourselves; there will be no occupying authority. The only thing is that the occupiers will bring their ‘humanitarian aid’. But it’s our business what to do with it: we work with our humanitarian headquarters."

Previously: On 26 March, Russian forces invaded Slavutych, a satellite town of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, and kidnapped the mayor. When people gathered for a peaceful protest, the occupying forces threw stun grenades at them and fired into the air.