Ukrainian presidential advisor Oleksiy Arestovych said Russian forces were trying to lay siege to Kyiv and the northeastern city Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest.
Russian troops fired artillery at Kyiv, Kharkiv and the southern port city of Mariupol overnight while the Ukrainian side shot down Russian military planes around the capital, Arestovych said in a televised briefing.
He described the current situation as under control.
(Reporting by Natalia Zinets; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Edmund Blair)
