A Ukrainian American pastor is reported to have been abducted in the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol.

About 10 Russian soldiers are said to have arrived at the home of 50 year old Dmitry Bodyu, bishop of the Word of Life Church in Melitopol city last Saturday and taken him away. NBC News says the troops also confiscated his American passport along with the family’s phones and other devices.

Pastor Bodyu left Crimea to live in Ukraine in 2014 after the Russian annexation because of his American citizenship.

His arrest comes amid fears pastors are being targeted by Russian troops in Ukraine. Last week Release International warned that a hunt for pastors in Ukraine had begun in areas of the country now under Russian control. The charity has issued an urgent call to prayer.

Last week Russian soldiers arrested the pastor of the Light of the World Evangelical Church of Mariupol.

Alexander Glushko was arrested at his house in the besieged city. He is believed to have been taken to territory previously occupied by Russian troops and imprisoned close to Donetsk.

Another pastor of a church near Mariupol reports that he was blacklisted for arrest but managed to escape. Release International’s partner in Ukraine, ‘Pavel’ describes that escape as ‘a miracle’.