In what amounts to a clear case of betrayal, Svyatogorsk mayor Volodymyr Bandura has defected from Ukraine and pledged loyalty to Russian-led separatist administration.

The news came from Denys Pushylin who leads a puppet government of Donetsk separatists. He said Volodymyr Bandura is supportive of Russian invasion.

‘We have been in touch for a long time, he was waiting as many residents of Svyatogorsk for liberation, and is supportive of special military operation,’ wrote Pushylin, adding he offered the defector to assume a role of a ‘town administration head’.

The separatists’ leader also argued Bandura had to keep his defection a secret to ‘safeguard people’.