Rockets rain on Kharkiv, street fights continue

KYIV/MOSCOW • Russian invasion forces seized two small cities in south-eastern Ukraine and the area around a nuclear power plant, the Interfax news agency reported yesterday, but ran into stiff resistance elsewhere.

Blasts were heard before dawn yesterday in the capital of Kyiv and in the major city of Kharkiv, the Ukrainian authorities said.

In Kharkhiv, dozens of people were killed in rocket strikes by Russian forces yesterday morning, Ukrainian Interior Ministry adviser Anton Herashchenko said.

"Kharkiv has just been massively fired upon by grads (rockets). Dozens of dead and hundreds of wounded," he said in a post on Facebook.

But Russian ground forces' attempts to capture major urban centres had been repelled, he added.

Russia's Defence Ministry, however, said its forces had taken over the towns of Berdyansk and Enerhodar in Ukraine's south-eastern Zaporizhzhya region as well as the area around the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, Russia's Interfax reported.

The plant's operations continued normally, it said.

Ukraine denied that the nuclear plant had fallen into Russian hands, according to the news agency.

Britain's Defence Ministry said yesterday that Russia's advance on Kyiv has been slowed by logistical failures and fierce Ukrainian resistance.

"The bulk of (President Vladimir) Putin's ground forces remain more than 30km to the north of Kyiv, their advance having been slowed by Ukrainian forces defending Hostomel airfield, a key Russian objective for day one of the conflict," the ministry said. "Logistical failures and staunch Ukrainian resistance continue to frustrate the Russian advance."

Heavy fighting continues around Kharkhiv and Chernihiv, a city in northern Ukraine, the Defence Ministry said.

It added that both cities remain under Ukrainian control.

The BBC reported yesterday that Kyiv has lifted its curfew after two days, with some food shops open and public transport running. But it said residents were advised to shelter and not go outside unless necessary, with fighting at street level continuing in many areas.

At least 352 civilians, including 14 children, had been killed since the beginning of Russia's invasion, Ukraine's Health Ministry said on Sunday, with 1,684 people wounded. They did not include those killed yesterday in Kharkiv.

As missiles rained down in Ukraine, some 400,000 civilians, mainly women and children, have fled into neighbouring countries, a United Nations relief agency said.

A senior US defence official said Russia had fired more than 350 missiles at Ukrainian targets since it launched the invasion last week, some hitting civilian infrastructure.

Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a "special operation" that it says is not designed to occupy territory but to destroy its southern neighbour's military capabilities and capture what it regards as dangerous nationalists.

In response, Western-led political, strategic, economic and corporate sanctions were unprecedented in their extent and coordination, and there were further pledges of military support for Ukraine's badly outgunned armed forces. In the Baltic state of Latvia, the Parliament gave its blessing to any citizen who wanted to fight in Ukraine against the Russian invaders.

Several countries have said that they would send arms to Ukraine to help in the fight against the Russians.

In a speech yesterday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Russian soldiers to lay down their weapons and leave the country to save their lives, the BBC said. He warned them not to believe what their Russian commanders told them.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE