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By Gerrard Kaonga
US News Reporter
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A video showing Ukrainian citizens chanting in the streets and confronting Russian soldiers in the occupied southeastern city of Melitopol has gone viral.
It comes after the city's mayor, Ivan Fedorov, was kidnapped last week after Russian soldiers took over the city.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly demanded the release of the mayor and called for support from world leaders on his Twitter page.
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The video of the protest has begun to go viral on Twitter and has so far been viewed over 600,000 times.
In the video, groups of citizens can be heard shouting loudly at Russian soldiers, with many screaming obscenities and telling the soldiers to leave the city.
A Russian soldier, armed with a rifle, can be seen pushing a person away only for another protester to shove the soldier back.
The caption within the video reads: "Melitopol citizens demanding that Russia release the city's mayor, who was illegally detained by the occupiers three days ago," according to a Newsweek translation.
It is not clear when the footage was recorded, but Melitopol citizens have repeatedly protested against Russian soldiers since the city was occupied.
Oliver Carroll, a correspondent for The Economist, shared the video to his Twitter page on Monday and warned the situation could take "a dark turn".
"Melitopol continues to fight back against occupation and the kidnapping of its mayor," he wrote on Twitter.
"Things likely to take a dark turn but I wouldn't want to be one of these Russian soldiers."
Before being posted on Twitter, the video was posted on the social media platform TikTok by user m_kryukov. The video has since been taken down from his TikTok page, however. Other videos that are still up on his page show citizens protesting in the streets of Melitopol.
Newsweek reported on Monday that Halyna Danylchenko, known for her pro-Russian views, had been installed as the temporary mayor of the occupied city.
In a video address, she urged locals to listen to Russian TV to get true information about the conflict and also warned against "extremist action" towards the Russian invaders.
"Today we have an acute shortage of reliable information," she said.
"Therefore from today on the territory of Melitopol and Melitopol district, digital broadcasting of Russian TV channels begins. Reconfigure your TVs and get true information."
She added: "Despite all our efforts, there are still people in the city who are trying to destabilize the situation, who are calling on you to take extremist actions.
"I ask you to be prudent [and] not to succumb to these provocations."
This may be in reference to the times when Zelensky has called on citizens to take up arms against the Russian invaders.
Follow our live blog for updates on the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
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