After a day of conflicting claims, confirm news came in that the Russian troops have seized control of the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson and forced their way into the council building. The Russian troops are now in every part of the city and are very dangerous, wrote Gennady Lakhuta, the head of the regional administration, on Telegram.
The city of Kherson came under Russian control on the eighth day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Black Sea port of Kherson is a southern city in Ukraine with around 250,000 people and is tactically located where the Dnipro River flows into the Black Sea. Kherson is the first major urban city to fall into the hands of Russia. The Russian invasion has been reported to be moving towards Kyiv as the government in Kyiv remains to be brought down.
Meanwhile, Filippo Grandi, the High Commissioner of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees tweeted on Thursday that around one million refugees have fled Ukraine following the Russian invasion. He added that in a matter of just seven days the world has seen the exodus of over one million refugees from Ukraine to the neighbouring countries.
The agency has cautioned that the exodus is far from finished. It has been predicted that eventually, as many as 4 million people could leave Ukraine, and even that projection could be revised upward. Meanwhile, the UN Human Rights Office has reported and confirmed the death of 227 civilians and 525 being injured owing to the conflict as of midnight on March 1. The office further cautioned that the real numbers would be much higher due to the delays in reporting.
On Wednesday, Kherson Mayor Igor Kolykhayev said that the Russian troops were in the streets and had entered the council building. He urged the civilians to walk through the streets only in daylight and in ones and twos. He said in a statement that he didn’t make any promises to the Russian troops, but requested them not to shoot innocent people.
Meanwhile, the US State Department called on Putin and the Russian government to immediately put an end to the bloodshed and withdraw forces from Ukraine.
Russia has denied targeting civilians or residential areas, although there have been extensive reports of civilian casualties and the shelling of residential areas. The over-whelming bombing in Kharkiv has turned its center into a wasteland of ruined buildings and debris.
In the meantime, it has been reported that the third C-17 aircraft of the Indian Air Force, for evacuating Indian nationals, landed at Hindon airbase. The aircraft was carrying 208 Indian citizens who were trapped in Ukraine and has come from Rzeszow in Poland.
