Russia says forces take first large city in Ukraine

Russia is claiming that its forces have seized the first major city in Ukraine almost one week after Moscow’s invasion was launched, though a military adviser to the Ukrainian president reports that the battle in Kherson rages on.

“The city is not experiencing shortages in food and essential goods,” the Russian Defense Ministry claimed in a statement regarding Kherson, according to The New York Times. “Negotiations are ongoing between the Russian command, the administration of the city and the region to address issues of maintaining the functioning of social infrastructure facilities, ensuring law and order and the safety of the population.”

The Times noted that it could not immediately verify Russia’s claim, adding that Oleksiy Arestovich, a military adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said that the battle for the city, located northwest of Crimea, is ongoing.

Roughly 250,000 people live in Kherson, according to Reuters, and if the city were taken, it would represent the first major municipality seized by Russian forces. 

Russia’s military has so far been unsuccessful at taking the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv as well as Kharkiv, the nation’s second-largest city, Reuters noted.

“Last night and tonight they continued to bomb our cities. Bombs. Missiles. Artillery. Machine guns. Targeting peaceful people. Again. Targeting residential areas. Again. Mariupol, Kkarkiv, Kyiv, Zhytomyr, and other cities and towns of Ukraine. This cannot be explained by any human reason. Any reason of God,” Zelensky said in a video address on Wednesday.

Zelensky has urged Russian forces to stop bombing Ukraine before Ukrainian and Russian officials meet for another round of negotiations.

“It’s necessary to at least stop bombing people, just stop the bombing and then sit down at the negotiating table,” Zelensky told Reuters and CNN in a joint interview on Tuesday.