This is the moment a Russian cruise missile slams into a government building in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv, sending a thick cloud of dust and debris into the air – and only sparing the governor because he had “overslept”.

Newsflash obtained the footage without comment from Vitaliy Kim, the Ukrainian businessman and politician of Korean ancestry who has been the Governor of Mykolaiv Oblast since 2020, earlier today (Tuesday, 29th March).

The video purports to show a Russian cruise missile striking the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration building in the capital city of the southern Ukrainian region.

The large building was left with a gaping hole in its centre, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reporting that at least seven died and 22 were injured in the attack.

Mr Kim reported that between 50 and 100 people managed to escape the building unscathed, while eight civilians and three military personnel were left trapped under the rubble.

The regional governor also claimed that the attack was deliberately carried out during business hours to kill government employees in the building.

He said his own life was only spared because he had “overslept” and was therefore not in the building at the time of the missile strike.

Mr Kim reacted to the attack with gallows humour, saying: “They destroyed half of the building, got into my office. My entire supply of IQOS (e-cigarettes) was lost.”

The area around the city of Mykolaiv is one of several locations in Ukraine where the Ukrainian Armed Forces and volunteers have recently been pushing back the invading Russian Armed Forces.

The Russians are believed to be trying to take the port city because it lies en route to strategically-important Odesa, which lies to Mykolaiv’s west, on the Black Sea Coast. Odesa is the third-largest city, and biggest port city, in the country.

Like Kyiv and Kharkiv, Ukraine’s first and second cities respectively, Odesa still remains in Ukrainian hands over a month after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his so-called “special military operation” to “demilitarise” and “denazify” the country, on 24th February.

However, despite the Ukrainians’ fierce resistance, swathes of the north, east and south of the country have been occupied by the invading Russian Armed Forces.

Mr Kim, 41, was born in Mykolaiv and is married with three children.

The battle for Mykolaiv began on the night of 26th February and is ongoing.