No news for two months: the Russian Armed Forces kidnapped a journalist and her husband in Melitopol

The woman worked for the “Telegraph” publication for a long time, but left the business after the start of a full-scale war. Iryna Levchenko’s sister admits that she received news from her husband that he is accused of terrorism, but there is no more information about them. No one knows in what state they are now. This is stated in the new material of the portal on July 6.

Journalists note that terror in the occupied territories is no longer news and everyone knows about it. Unfortunately, these things have become commonplace for the residents of the regions under the temporary control of the Russian Federation, and no one is immune from this.

On May 6, 2023, under unknown circumstances, journalist Iryna Levchenko disappeared. She previously worked for the “Telegraph” publication and before the war told readers about unique people from Ukraine and the whole world, drew attention to social problems, and also shared everything that was happening in the Zaporizhzhia region.

After February 24, 2022, Melitopol, where Iryna lives, came under the control of Russian troops and the woman was forced to leave. Together with her husband, they had a common hobby – growing vegetables and berries in the country.

2 months ago, they were both detained by the Russians. Relatives said that the locks in the apartment are intact, but they are not inside. According to one of the versions, they could be detained on the street. Iryna’s sister Olena Rudenko says that Oleksandr was able to hand over a note from captivity, in which he said that he was accused of “terrorism”.

The woman’s colleagues remember her as a person who never lost her positive attitude. She devoted herself completely to the work she loved to do.

The Russians continue to take hostages of Ukrainians under occupation.

“I can’t think about Ira without tears, not what to talk about her. These are tears from a mixture of feelings for her, powerlessness to somehow change the situation and anger at these v****ds who are involved in the kidnapping and in general the policy of fighting against civilian population in the occupied territories… I still hope that I will receive some kind of usual message from Ira. But the more time passes, the better I understand that it is not known when it will happen… I am most afraid of seeing a video in which Ira confesses to something, and on the other hand, it will be at least some kind of confirmation that she is alive,” says one of Iryna’s colleagues.

Sources in law enforcement agencies, which are directly involved in prisoner exchange processes, spoke about the difficult situation with Ukrainians who do not succumb to Russian propaganda.

“The situation with civilians is catastrophic. The Russians simply kidnap them, and they don’t want to exchange them, because we don’t have their civilians. We are a civilized country and we don’t kidnap citizens, no matter what citizenship they have,” the report says.

The Ombudsman of Ukraine, Dmytro Lubinets, said that there are at least 22,000 civilian hostages in the Russian Federation.