Ukraine minister slams Russia over 'fake TV coverage' after port city falls

Meanwhile, Facebook, TikTok, Twitter and Microsoft are cracking down on Kremlin-backed news outlets RT and Sputnik following the European Union's ban on Russian state media.

Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba has claimed that Russia is preparing to broadcast ‘a fake show with Russian troops providing humanitarian aid’ in Kherson - the first major city that fell on Thursday amid Moscow's onslaught. "When Russians can’t achieve real goals, they focus on fake TV coverage. Having seized a TV tower in Kherson, they plan a show: Russian troops provide humanitarian aid while fake ‘locals’ brought in from Crimea stage a fake ‘demo’ in favor of Kherson region ‘uniting’ with Crimea, (sic)" the minister who has been regularly tweeting on the Ukraine war wrote in a tweet.

An area near the regional administration building, which city officials said was hit by a missile attack, in central Kharkiv, Ukraine, Tuesday. (REUTERS)

Ukraine minister slams Russia over 'fake TV coverage' after port city falls

The Russian troops on Thursday took hold of a key government building in the port city with an aim to block Kyiv's access to the Black Sea. Moscow has been stepping up fight in the north, south and east. Despite global pressure, Russia's Vladimir Putin at a meeting with French president Emmanuel Macron on Thursday that his troops won't relent. "It was emphasised that the tasks of the special military operation will be fulfilled in any event, and attempts to gain time by dragging out negotiations will only lead to additional demands on Kiev in our negotiating position."

He has also rebuffed claims of civilian casualties even as a probe on war crimes against the Kremlin is about to begin.

Meanwhile, Facebook, TikTok, Twitter and Microsoft are cracking down on Kremlin-backed news outlets RT and Sputnik following the European Union's ban on Russian state media, Reuters reported. The stations "will no longer be able to spread their lies to justify Putin's war and to sow division in our Union", European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen said last Sunday.

Ukrainians faced another grim day in the Russian invasion on Thursday as the bombardment claimed more victims and destroyed buildings. Russian forces now threaten to overtake a major energy hub even as the two sides negotiated corridors to safely evacuate citizens.

Residents poured out of the country by bus and train, sometimes in unheated cars, to cross the border to Poland or Romania. Some desperate to escape the bombings crowded rail stations and squeezed onto trains, not always knowing where they were headed, news agency AP reported.

The U.N. refugee agency says 1 million people have fled Ukraine since Russia’s invasion less than a week ago, an exodus without precedent in this century for its speed.