The Russian occupation forces kidnapped around 1,000 civilians from Melitopol, Zaporizhia region, during almost a year of the occupation, Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov has said.

"During almost one year of the occupation, around 1,000 of our people were kidnapped in Melitopol alone. Hundreds of them are still in captivity today. They are in absolutely different places – some are in Melitopol, some were removed to temporarily occupied Crimea, Lefortovo, and other detention facilities," he said at a press briefing hosted by the Ukraine-Ukrinform Media Center on Monday.

Fedorov also said that recently the Russian occupiers started to take captives among the local residents of Vasylivka in Zaporizhia region in order to "directly force them to labor."