Ex-Marine John Sennett says Putin's attack on Ukraine is "not a war - it's mass murder".With bombs hitting Kyiv in the early hours of this morning, a US man said he would have been among the victims - had he left his home just 20 minutes earlier. Former US Marine John Sennett, 57, who is originally from New Jersey, moved to the Ukrainian capital with his wife Natasha in November 2020, where they now live with their dog Philly, named after John’s beloved Philadelphia Eagles.

He told Express.co.uk: “They hit when I was just out with coming out with the dog at around eight-ish, 8.05am.

“The ground shook but the ground has shaken before and I was like, ‘Well, they probably didn't hit anywhere close to us’.

“So we went towards our normal path, which takes us up to Taras Shevchenko Boulevard. I saw a bunch of people running that way and thought ‘oh what’s this?’

“And when I got up there, I saw that it had hit right on the route where I usually take the dog, either me or the wife, today it was my day. And so I walked as close as I could get and saw the damage.

“There was one car which I assumed had bodies in it and they had put some sort of barriers in the windows so people wouldn't be gawking.”

Reflecting on his lucky escape, Mr Sennett, who moved to Ukraine with his wife so they could be closer to her parents in Belarus, said: “Shevchenko Park is this green area in the centre of Kyiv and it is really convenient to walk your dog.

“I would usually come home on Voldymyrska Street, which is right where it hit.

“The windows were blown out, the cars were on fire, there was debris everywhere.

“There were people who had come out of their offices with some blood on their faces.”

Mr Sennett added: “I took my time and finished the walk with the dog - I didn't want to alarm my wife because she just knew that it struck in our district.