Ukraine war: Strategic port city falls to Russian forces

The Russian military claimed it has control of Kherson and has taken over local government headquarters in the Black Sea port of 280,000 people.

Russian troops seized Kherson, the first major Ukrainian city to fall in a war that has drawn global outrage and driven one million civilians from their homes.

Participants burn flares during special tactical training exercises held by Ukrainian police, the National Guard and security services at the Kalanchak training ground in the Kherson region, Ukraine, 

Russian forces have occupied the regional administration building in Ukraine’s port city of Kherson, regional governor Hennadiy Laguta said in an online post on Thursday, Reuters reported.

Meanwhile, Russian troops had entered the southern city of Enerhodar, a major energy hub on the Dnieper River that accounts for about one-quarter of the country’s power generation. It is the site of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, the biggest in Europe.

Moscow’s advance on Ukraine’s capital has apparently stalled over the past few days, with a huge armoured column north of Kyiv at a standstill, but the military has made significant gains in the south as part of an effort to sever the country’s connection to the Black and Azov seas.

The Russian military said it had control of Kherson, and Ukrainian officials confirmed that forces have taken over local government headquarters in the Black Sea port of 280,000.

Heavy fighting continued on the outskirts of another strategic port, Mariupol, on the Azov Sea, plunging it into darkness, isolation and fear. Electricity and phone service were largely down, and homes and shops faced food and water shortages.

Without phone connections, medics did not know where to take the wounded.

Cutting Ukraine’s access to its Black Sea and Azov coast would deal a crippling blow to the country’s economy and allow Russia to build a land corridor stretching from its border, across Crimea, which has been occupied by Russia since 2014, and all the way west to Romania.

Agreed on humanitarian corridors: Ukraine

A Ukrainian negotiator said on Thursday that a second round of ceasefire talks with Russia had not yielded the results Kyiv hoped for, but the sides had reached an understanding on creating humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said the two sides envisaged a possible temporary ceasefire to allow for the evacuation of civilians.

“That is, not everywhere, but only in those places where the humanitarian corridors themselves will be located, it will be possible to cease fire for the duration of the evacuation,” he said.

They had also reached an understanding on the delivery of medicines and food to the places where the fiercest fighting was taking place.

Russia will achieve its goals in Ukraine: Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin told French President Emmanuel Macron that he was determined to press on with his attack “until the end”, according to an official in the French president’s office. In a statement issued after the French and Russian presidents spoke by phone, the Kremlin made clear its goals included the demilitarisation and neutrality of Ukraine.

Any attempts by Kyiv to delay negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian officials would result in Moscow adding more items to a list of demands it has already set out, it said.

“Vladimir Putin outlined in detail the fundamental approaches and conditions in the context of negotiations with representatives of Kyiv. It was confirmed that, first of all, we are talking about the demilitarisation and neutral status of Ukraine, so that a threat to the Russian Federation will never emanate from its territory,” the statement said.

Zelensky asks West for more military aid

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has challenged Russian President Vladimir Putin to sit down for talks while urging the West to offer a stronger military assistance to Ukraine to fight the Russian invasion.

In a sarcastic reference to a long table Putin used for his recent meetings with foreign leaders and Russian officials, Zelensky said: “Sit down with me to negotiate, just not at 30 metres,” adding, “I don’t bite. What are you afraid of?”

22 killed in Russian strike on Ukraine’s Chernihiv

Twenty-two people died on Thursday when Russian forces hit residential areas, including schools and a high-rise apartment block in the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv, the emergencies service said.

Images released by the service showed plumes of smoke coming out of heavily damaged apartments, with debris scattered across a yard and rescuers carrying bodies on stretchers.

Biden seeks $10 billion for aid to Ukraine

The Biden administration is seeking another $10 billion to help protect Ukraine against the Russian invasion. The acting director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, Shalanda Young, laid out the need for the supplemental funding in a Thursday blog post.

The $10bn to Ukraine would be a rapid escalation of the $1.4bn provided by the US since 2021, a reflection of the crisis caused by the Russian offensive that began last month.