Chilling footage has emerged appearing to show a Ukrainian mayor being kidnapped by Russian forces when he "refused to co-operate with the enemy".
Ukraine 's President Volodymyr Zelensky claims Russian troops had abducted the mayor of Melitopol, a city in southeastern Ukraine.
Moscow has not yet commented on the abduction claims.
A group of men appear to be seen escorting Ivan Fedorov out of a building and across a square in a CCTV clip shared on Telegram by the deputy head of Ukraine's presidential office.
The footage - which has been shared widely by the media in Ukraine - is believed to have been taken in the city's Victory Square.
Ukraine's parliament has claimed the mayor was kidnapped by a group of 10 armed men who put a plastic bag over his head, Daily Mail reports.
President Zelensky has called the alleged abduction a "crime against democracy" and said the acts by Russia would be treated as "terrorism".
He said: "The capture of the mayor of Melitopol is therefore a crime, not only against a particular person, against a particular community, and not only against Ukraine. It is a crime against democracy itself... The acts of the Russian invaders will be regarded like those of Islamic State terrorist."
Ukrainian officials have claimed that the mayor was kidnapped after he had "refused to co-operate with the enemy".
Mr Zelensky said Russian forces "have transitioned into a new stage of terror".
He added: "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 when they are trying to physically eliminate representatives of the legitimate local Ukrainian authorities.
"The whole country saw that Melitopol did not surrender to the invaders, and this will not be changed by putting pressure on mayors or kidnapping mayors."
In an address on Friday, March 11, Ukraine's President Zelensky described his colleague as "a mayor who bravely defends Ukraine and the members of his community".
It was later claimed by a Russian separatist prosecutor in Luhansk that Fedorov was being investigated for terrorism offences.
Ukraine has accused Russian forces of violating international law by abducting the mayor of Melitopol.
Ukraine's foreign ministry said in a statement: "The abduction of the mayor of Melitopol is classified as a war crime under the Geneva Conventions and the Additional Protocol, which prohibit the taking of civilian hostages during the war."
It comes as the sound of war continued to rip through Ukraine overnight with Russian troops edging closer to Ukraine's capital Kyiv.
