A mayor in Ukraine was saved from being in a building destroyed by a Russian missile strike as he had overslept.
An administration building in Mykolaiv, a city in the south of the country near the Black Sea, was partly destroyed in the attack, leaving a large gaping hole in its centre.
Rescue workers are currently searching the rubble and debris for several people feared to have been inside at the time of the bombing.
Not among them was exhausted Head of Administration Vitaliy Kim, who had overslept and missed possibly a tragic fate.
Ukraine ’s Strategic Communications and Information Team tweeted: “Russian military shelled the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration building, head of the administration Vitaliy Kim says.
“According to Kim, several dozen people managed to leave the building.
“The rescue team is searching the rubble for 8 civilians and 3 servicemen. #StopRussia .”
A local news outlet added the building was destroyed in the missile strike but that head of administration was unhurt.
It added: “Vitaliy Kim says he was not in office, cause overslept.”
Mr Kim shared a still from CCTV showing the cruise missile, seconds before the explosion.
It comes as Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Russian troops are murdering officials in cities throughout the country
Speaking from Kyiv, he accused Moscow’s forces of kidnapping Mayors and then leaving them dead or missing.
Early in the war Ivan Federov, mayor of Melitopol, was abducted by Russian troops, sparking mass protests by Ukrainians.
Ten masked soldiers are said to have entered the town’s crisis centre, put a bag over his head and marched him away to an unknown location.
Days later Yevheniy Matvieyev, head of the southern town of Dniprorudne, was also abducted by Russian troops, leading to accusations made against Moscow of “systematic war crimes” by Ukraine’s military.
Zelensky said: “They are kidnapping the mayors of our cities. They killed some of them. We can’t find some of them.
“We have already found some of them and they are dead.”
The shocking claim comes amid fears Russian troops are compensating for their disastrous invasion by resorting to deliberately targeting civilians and executing officials.
Ahead of peace talks the Ukrainian leader said his country could declare neutrality and offer security guarantees to Russia to secure peace “without delay”.
Some 17,000 Russian troops have been killed in the invasion and 586 tanks blown up in ferocious fighting.
Moscow has also lost 123 warplanes and 127 helicopters to Ukraine’s ground defence systems.
