Footage has emerged of Russian vehicles advancing into Ukraine’s second city of Kharkiv.
Oleh Sinehubov, the head of the Kharkiv regional administration, said that Ukrainian forces were fighting Russian troops in the city and asked civilians not to leave their homes.
Missiles battered the city overnight and a natural gas pipeline was blown up nearby.
An elderly woman was killed after a nine-story residential tower was hit by a shell.
Rescuers said about 60 people survived after taking refuge in the basement.
Russian troops approached Kharkiv, which is located about 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) south of the border with Russia, shortly after Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine on Thursday.
But until Sunday, they remained on its outskirts without trying to enter the city while other forces rolled past, pressing their offensive deeper into Ukraine.
Footage allegedly filmed in the streets of Kharkiv. To be civilian waking up to these scenes from your window must be horrifying. pic.twitter.com/rXcHmqp1NQ
— Adam Gnych (@AdamGnych) February 27, 2022
Videos on Ukrainian media and social networks showed Russian vehicles moving across Kharkiv and a light vehicle burning on the street.
However, on Sunday afternoon Mr Sinehubov claimed that Ukraine was back “controlling the area fully”.
“Control over Kharkiv is completely ours!” he said.
“The armed forces, the police, and the defence forces are working, and the city is being completely cleansed of the enemy.”
The West is working to equip the outnumbered Ukrainian forces with weapons and ammunition while punishing Russia with far-reaching sanctions intended to further isolate Moscow.
Huge explosions lit up the sky early Sunday near the capital, Kyiv, where people hunkered down in homes, underground garages and subway stations in anticipation of a full-scale assault by Russian forces.
Flames billowed into the sky before dawn from an oil depot near an air base in Vasylkiv, where there has been intense fighting, according to the town’s mayor.
President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office said another explosion was at the civilian Zhuliany airport.
Zelensky’s office also said Russian forces blew up a gas pipeline in Kharkiv, prompting the government to warn people to protect themselves from the smoke by covering their windows with damp cloth or gauze.
“We will fight for as long as needed to liberate our country,” Zelenskyy said.
Terrified men, women and children sought safety inside and underground, and the government maintained a 39-hour curfew to keep people off the streets.
More than 150,000 Ukrainians fled for Poland, Moldova and other neighbouring countries, and the United Nations warned the number could grow to 4 million if fighting escalates.
Russia’s military also put increasing pressure on strategic ports in the south of Ukraine, blocking the strategic cities of Kherson on the Black Sea and the port of Berdyansk on the Azov Sea, Russian officials said.
Ukrainian authorities previously have reported fighting in various areas along the coast.
As Russia has closed in on the Ukrainian capital, it has also focused on pressing its offensive in the country’s south in an apparent bid to take control of its coast stretching from the border with Romania in the west to the border with Russia in the east.
The Ukrainian authorities have reported fighting going on near Odesa, Mykolaiv and other areas.
Russia’s advances along Ukraine’s coast mark an attempt to cut the country’s access to its sea ports that would deal a major blow to its economy.
The offensive in the south also could allow Moscow to build a land corridor to Crimea, which until now was connected to Russia by a 19-kilometer (12-mile) bridge, the longest bridge in Europe which opened in 2018.
President Vladimir Putin hasn’t disclosed his ultimate plans, but Western officials believe he is determined to overthrow Ukraine’s government and replace it with a regime of his own.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said a Russian delegation of military officials and diplomats had arrived Sunday in the Belarusian city of Gomel for talks with Ukraine.
Zelensky on Friday offered to negotiate a key Russian demand: abandoning ambitions of joining Nato.
“The Russian delegation is ready for talks and we are now waiting for the Ukrainians,” Peskov said.
Ukraine’s president said his country was ready for peace talks with Russia but not in Belarus given the Russian ally’s role in the invasion.
Speaking in a video message Sunday, Zelensky named Warsaw, Bratislava, Istanbul, Budapest or Baku as alternative venues.
Speaking in Russian, Zelensky said that Ukraine wants peace talks and will “accept any other city in a country that hasn’t been used for launching missiles.
The US has pledged an additional $350 million in military assistance to Ukraine, including anti-tank weapons, body armor and small arms.
Germany said it would send missiles and anti-tank weapons to the besieged country and that it would close its airspace to Russian planes.
The U.S., European Union and United Kingdom agreed to block “selected” Russian banks from the Swift global financial messaging system, which moves money around more than 11,000 banks and other financial institutions worldwide.
They also agreed to impose “restrictive measures” on Russia’s central bank.
On Saturday, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said “the speed of the Russian advance has temporarily slowed likely as a result of acute logistical difficulties and strong Ukrainian resistance.”
The curfew forcing everyone in Kyiv inside was set to last through Monday morning.
The relative quiet of the capital was sporadically broken by gunfire.
Fighting on the city’s outskirts suggested that small Russian units were trying to clear a path for the main forces.
