“Kharkiv has just been massively fired upon by grads (rockets). Dozens of dead and hundreds of wounded,” Ukrainian interior ministry adviser Anton Herashchenko said in a post on Facebook on Monday.
There have been more Russian air attacks and fierce clashes between the two sides as Russian forces continue to close in on the Ukrainian capital on the fifth day of the conflict.
However, its forces have met an outgunned but determined resistance in Kyiv and other cities including Kharkiv, with an undeterred Russian President Vladimir Putin putting Russia’s nuclear deterrent on high alert in the face of a barrage of Western-led reprisals for his invasion of Ukraine.
It came as ceasefire talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials began on the Belarusian border on Monday and as Russia faced deepening economic isolation five days after invading Ukraine, in the biggest assault on a European state since World War Two.
Earlier, the Ministry of Defence tweeted an intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine, saying: “The bulk of Putin’s ground forces remain more than 30km to the north of Kyiv their advance having been slowed by Ukrainian forces defending Hostomel airfield, a key Russian objective for day one of the conflict.
“Heavy fighting continues around Chernihiv and Kharkiv however both cities remain under Ukrainian control.
“Logistical failures and staunch Ukrainian resistance continue to frustrate the Russian advance.
“Despite continued attempts to supress details of the conflict from the Russian population, the Russian Armed Forces has for the first time been forced to acknowledge suffering casualties.”
