You're reading: FEMEN activists held by unknown individuals in Donetsk

The Ukrainian women's movement FEMEN says FEMEN activists Oleksandra Shevchenko, Yana Zhdanova, and Anna Bolshakova were kidnapped by a group of unknown individuals in Donetsk on Friday, June 15.

 According to a press release issued by FEMEN, the activists arrived in Donetsk to protest Euro 2012 on Friday morning.

“After the women arrived in the city, a group of some 15 people, who appeared to be private security guards or special service officials, started observing the activists,” the report says.

Trying to escape from their followers, the women split into two groups and took public transport in different directions. Shevchenko’s phone went dead at 1600 and Zhdanova and Bolshakova stopped answering their phones about an hour later.

“In an informal report, the administration of Donetsk police deny their involvement in the surveillance and disappearance of the FEMEN activists,” the document says.

According to earlier reports, topless FEMEN activists tried to get into the Olympiysky sports facility during the Ukraine-Sweden game to protest Euro 2012. The police detained two girls to make an administrative violation protocol.