Russian forces laid siege to key urban areas across Ukraine on Wednesday, advancing on the strategic port city of Kherson and bombarding Kharkiv, the nation’s second-largest city, while facing fierce resistance and resupply challenges in other areas.
Russian state media, citing defense officials, said Moscow’s troops were in control of Kherson, setting the stage for an advance toward Odessa, a major prize on Ukraine’s Black Sea coast. But a spokesperson for the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said that “the battle continues.” Kherson’s mayor said Russian troops had visited his office to discuss how the city’s 300,000 residents could move about. Still, the mayor wrote on Facebook, “the flag above us is Ukrainian.”
A day after seizing their first major Ukrainian city, Russian forces on Thursday laid siege to urban areas across the country in a grinding offensive that has pummeled civilian neighborhoods with increasingly heavy artillery and reduced basic services to rubble.
The swift fall of the major city, Kherson in the south of the country, raised fears that other cities could soon follow as Russia’s bombardment created pressure on people to surrender.
Russian forces appeared to be making their biggest gains in the south, where they had nearly surrounded two strategic cities in an apparent bid to capture Ukraine’s entire Black Sea coast. This move by Russia is potentially cutting off Ukraine from world shipping.
