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Russia will not "subdue" the captured city of Slavutych, Ukrainian president warns

27 March 2022 04:12 (UTC +04:00)

Russia will not "subdue" the captured city of Slavutych, a defiant Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday, APA reports citing CNN.

Russian forces that entered the city are encountering the same spirit of resistance evident in other parts of the country, the president said in a video posted to social media.

"Free Slavutych which the invaders cannot subdue," he said.

Earlier Saturday, hundreds of locals amassed in the city square in a protest following the arrival of Russian troops.

Images and video geolocated by CNN showed a crowd of about several hundred people.

"Slavutych is Ukraine!" they chanted in the main square. "Glory to Ukraine."

Zelensky said every "demonstration of our resistance ... proves that Ukraine is a country full of life."

Russian forces briefly detained the city's mayor but eventually released him, according to a statement from Ukrainian political party Sluha Narodu.

The UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), condemned Russia's seizure of the city, which was built to house workers of the nearby Chornobyl nuclear power plant.

The IAEA said in a statement it was closely monitoring the situation. The agency's director general, Rafael Mariano Grossi, voiced concerns about the ability of power plant staff to return safely to their homes.