Ukraine Mayor Escapes Death After Sleeping Through Missile Attack

Ukrainian mayor Vitaliy Kim has been left unscathed following a missile attack on the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration building as a result of oversleeping.

Since Russian forces were ordered across the border on 24 February by President Vladimir Putin, Ukraine's mayors have become the target of a series of attacks, with reports coming through of kidnappings.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has also been the subject of 'more than a dozen' assassination attempts since Putin's 'special military operation' first begun.

However, one mayor got off lucky after he overslept and so wasn't in the administration building in Mykolaiv which was left devastated by Russian bombing this morning (29 March).

The Stratcom Centre for Strategic Communications and Information Security under the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine took to Twitter to share details of the attack.

It wrote: "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."

Speaking in a video which was shared on social media, Kim said (per the Telegraph): "It's early and already terrible things have happened.

"They waited until people went to work and then they hit. I overslept.

"But I am up now."

Reuters reports that seven people were killed and 22 were injured following the attack on the building, with 18 of the wounded pulled from the rubble by emergency workers.

While Vitaliy Kim was lucky to have overslept and not be present in the building at the time of the airstrike, mayor of the occupied city of Melitopol, Ivan Federov, was not so fortunate.

The deputy head of Ukraine's national government, Kirill Timoshenko, took to Telegram to share footage which he claimed showed Federov being kidnapped by Russian soldiers.

Fedorov was freed earlier this month in a 'special operation' in which young prisoners of war were reportedly exchanged with Russia.

Mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, has vowed that if Russian military attempt to do the same to him that he won't make it 'easy' and that he is prepared 'to fight'.

Zelenskyy reflected on the Russian abductions of Ukraine's mayors as 'a sign of the weakness of the invaders'.

He stated: "They did not find any support on our land, although they counted on it. They did not find collaborators who would hand over the city and the power to the invaders. Therefore they have switched to a new stage of terror... they are trying to physically eliminate representatives of the legitimate local Ukrainian authorities."

If you would like to donate to the Red Cross Emergency Appeal, which will help provide food, medicines and basic medical supplies, shelter and water to those in Ukraine, click here for more information 

Topics: Russia, Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, Vladimir Putin

Poppy Bilderbeck

Poppy Bilderbeck is a Senior Journalist at LADbible Group. She graduated from The University of Manchester in 2021 with a First in English Literature and Drama, where alongside her studies she was Editor-in-Chief of The Tab Manchester. Poppy is most comfortable when chatting about all things mental health, is proving a drama degree is far from useless by watching and reviewing as many TV shows and films as possible and is such a crisp fanatic the office has been forced to release them in batches.