Kyiv: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenzkyy accused that Russian forces kidnapped the mayor of Ukraine's Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov.

Ukraine officials have also confirmed the kidnap of Melitopol Mayor by Russian forces. Ukraine’s Parliament stated that "A group of 10 occupiers kidnapped the mayor of Melitopol Ivan Fedorov… He refused to cooperate with the enemy." It said the mayor was taken away when he was at the besieged city's crisis centre dealing with supply issues.

According to the Ukrainian parliament, another regional official, the deputy head of the regional council of Zaporizhzhia -- 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of Melitopol -- was abducted and then released a few days ago.

Ukraine President Zelenskyy referred to the abducted mayor as one who "who bravely defends Ukraine and the members of his community".

"This is obviously a sign of weakness of the invaders... They have moved to a new stage of terror in which they are trying to physically eliminate representatives of legitimate local Ukrainian authorities," 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 terrorists," he said.

The deputy head of Ukraine's presidential administration, Kirillo Timoshenko, previously posted a video on Telegram showing soldiers coming out of a building holding a man dressed in black, his head apparently covered with a black bag.

The Russian forces intensified their offensive in Ukraine during the day as they conducted airstrikes in the western part of the country, while Russian President Vladimir Putin approved the recruitment of “volunteers” from Syria and elsewhere to join the fight, Hindustan Times reported.

Zelenskyy, who has rallied his people with a series of addresses from Kyiv, said Ukraine had "already reached a strategic turning point". "It is impossible to say how many days we still have (ahead of us) to free Ukrainian land. But we can say we will do it," he said. "We are already moving towards our goal, our victory."

Russian forces bombarded cities across the country and appeared to be regrouping for a possible assault on Kyiv, with satellite images showing them firing artillery as they closed in on the capital.

The governor of the Kharkiv region, along the Russian border, said a psychiatric hospital had been attacked by Russian troops and the mayor of the city of Kharkiv said about 50 schools there had been completely destroyed.

The deputy head of Ukraine's presidential administration, Kirillo Timoshenko, previously posted a video on Telegram showing soldiers coming out of a building holding a man dressed in black, his head apparently covered with a black bag.

According to the Ukrainian parliament, another regional official, the deputy head of the regional council of Zaporizhzhia -- 120km (75 miles) north of Melitopol -- was abducted and then released a few days ago. Before the Russian invasion, Melitopol had just over 1,50,000 inhabitants.