More than 2,000 civilians have died in a week of war with Russia, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service says.
At least 25 people died and at least 121 were injured in Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv - a key target - as Russian forces stepped up their lethal bombardment on Wednesday.
Heavy gun battles raged as Ukrainian defence troops fought back, but the Russian military fired a cruise missile into the city council building in the eastern Ukrainian city, according to the deputy governor of the region, Roman Semenukha.
More than 600,000 residents have fled Ukraine, according to the UN, going to neighbouring Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary and Moldova.
Russian air and rocket strikes pounded Kharkiv on Wednesday morning, the emergency services said.
“Kharkiv is a Russian-speaking city. Every fourth person in Kharkiv has relatives in the Russian Federation. But the city’s attitude to Russia today is completely different to what it ever was before,” mayor Ihor Terekhov said in an online video statement.
“We never expected this could happen: total destruction, annihilation, genocide against the Ukrainian people - this is unforgivable.”
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv remained the main target. Residents have been sheltering in metro stations at night, and shops are running out of stock.
The Russian defence ministry has claimed to have captured Kherson, a key port city on the Black Sea coast.
A convoy of Russian military vehicles, estimated to be 40 miles long, together with an estimated 15,000 troops, is still heading for Kyiv.
“We are preparing and will defend Kyiv!” mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote in an online post“Kyiv stands and will stand.”
Both sides said they were ready to resume talks aimed at stopping the new devastating war in Europe.The first round of talks on Monday resulted in only a promise to meet again.
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