Russia meets public resistance in cities and towns it seized.

And he sought to faucet into public rage in two videotaped speeches launched on Saturday.

“The entire nation noticed that Melitopol didn’t give up to the invaders,” he mentioned. “Simply as Kherson, Berdyansk and different cities the place Russian troops managed to enter didn’t — briefly managed to enter. And this is not going to be modified by placing strain on mayors or kidnapping mayors.”

After folks took to the streets, he praised their braveness and steered the struggle lacked fashionable help amongst Russians.

“Do you hear it, Moscow?” he requested. “If 2,000 persons are protesting towards the occupation in Melitopol, how many individuals ought to be in Moscow towards the struggle?”

Mr. Zelelnsky mentioned he had raised the destiny of the mayor in calls with the leaders of Germany and France.

“We count on them, the world leaders, to point out how they will affect the state of affairs,” he mentioned. “How they will do a easy factor — free one individual, an individual who represents your entire Melitopol neighborhood, Ukrainians who don’t surrender.”

Melitopol lies solely a brief distance from Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014. Town got here beneath fierce assault on the primary day of the struggle, Feb. 24, and Russian troopers entered solely days later. Whereas town fell, Mr. Fyodorov remained defiant.

“We’re not cooperating with the Russians in any manner,” he mentioned.

As resistance has grown extra brazen, the Russian techniques have grown extra brutal, in response to the Ukrainian authorities and witnesses. The Normal Workers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine mentioned on Friday that Russian troopers have been committing robberies, taking hostages and executing civilians. The stories of executions and hostage taking couldn’t be independently verified, however there have been a number of witness accounts, typically recorded on video, of Russian troopers looting shops and houses.