In an act of defiance, people in Slavutych are taking to the streets after Russian occupational forces seized the city.

The local council said the convoy of Russian tanks and military vehicles entered the city on early Saturday.

According to the reports, Slavutych mayor Yuriy Fomichev was kidnapped soon after he called on people to protest the occupation. The footage that emerged on social media shows several hundred people protesting in the in the city waving Ukrainian flags.

 

As witnesses claim, the occupational troops used teargas and threw stun grenades to disperse the growing number of protesters. It is reported that the Russian troops are now raiding the houses on the outskirts of the city and staging identity checks in the streets. They have also seized the city hospital.

 

Slavutych is located close to the defunct Chernobyl nuclear site where most of the city residents work.