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Russia Captures Key Port City of Kherson, Ukrainian Officials Confirm

Seven days after the Kremlin ordered troops to invade Ukrainian territory, Russia has reportedly captured the key southern Ukrainian port city of Kherson as of this afternoon while its ground forces continue to press on toward the capital of Kyiv.

Kherson mayor Igor Kolykhaev seemed to confirm Wednesday that Russian forces had occupied the city, writing on Facebook that “there were armed visitors in the city council today.” Russian military personnel have set a curfew from 20:00 to 06:00 local time (22:00 – 08:00 GMT), and only vehicles carrying basic necessities will be permitted to enter the city, Kolykhaev said. The Russian forces have limited public gatherings or movement to no more than two people.

“So far this is how it is. Ukrainian flag above us. And to keep it the same, these requirements must be met. I have nothing else to offer yet,” he added.

However, earlier today U.S. defense officials claimed that Kherson “remains very much a contested city,” BBC News reported.

Neighboring Crimea, which Russia invaded and annexed in 2014, Kherson had been a tense battleground this week before Russia seized it.

“The Russian divisions of the armed forces have taken the regional centre of Kherson under full control,” Russian defense ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in televised comments Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, Ukraine contested this claim. An adviser to President Zelensky told Reuters that street fighting had erupted and that Russia had yet to stabilize the area.

“The city has not fallen, our side continues to defend,” adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said. Now, it appears that Russia has, in fact, taken Kherson.

Struggling to secure a single major population center for a week and facing a resilient Ukrainian resistance, Russian forces seem to be recalibrating their strategy this week, resorting to the indiscriminate air bombardment of cities.

Kharviv, Ukraine’s second largest city in the east, has suffered perhaps the most severe damage. In the last 24 hours alone, authorities claimed 21 people were killed by shelling and air strikes there, according to Reuters. Kharviv and Kyiv, representing the eastern and northern fronts of the war, are both still controlled by Ukrainians.

As they transition to an increasingly aggressive strategy, Russian forces have hit civilian buildings such as hospitals, in possible violation of international law, as well as symbolic sites of national significance. Russia blasted the corner of Babyn Yar on Tuesday, a memorial on the outskirts of Kyiv commemorating the single most deadly mass execution of the Holocaust, as well as a Kyiv television tower, killing five.

After the first peace talks attempt between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations on the Belarus border failed, Russia reportedly sent more representatives for a second round but Zelensky insisted on a pause in the bombing as a pre-condition.

“It’s necessary to at least stop bombing people, just stop the bombing and then sit down at the negotiating table,” Ukraine’s battered leader told Reuters and CNN.

The Russian army is reportedly encircling Kyiv gradually, after its advance stalled due to logistical issues, hitting suburbs with airstrikes and advancing infantry and tank columns. While many Ukrainians are sheltering underground in Kyiv, hundreds of thousands of civilians have evacuated to neighboring nations as the conflict has escalated.

As of Tuesday, at least 136 Ukrainians had died in the country, the UN human rights office projected. Casualties are mounting for the invaders as well, and at a much steeper rate. About 5,800 Russians have been killed in Ukraine so far, two Western officials told NBC News.

In response to Putin’s aggression, western countries have vowed to inflict economic warfare and squeeze Russia out of international commerce and banking, with the goal of sowing serious domestic unrest and hopefully sparking an uprising that could pressure Putin to end the invasion or oust him from power.

While the brunt of the penalties wasn’t supposed to kick in immediately, the value of Russia’s currency, the ruble, tumbled to rock bottom lows this week. President Biden slammed the invasion in his State of the Union speech Tuesday night, promising Putin that he would “pay a price.”

“Nobody will forgive. Nobody will forget,” he said.

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