Russian forces have also bombarded Ukraine\u2019s second-biggest city Kharkiv
\n KYIV
\nRussian troops have seized Kherson, the first major Ukrainian city to fall in a devastating week-old war that has already created one million refugees.
\nThe capture of the Black Sea city of 290,000 people, which just last year hosted Nato-supported war games, appeared a significant boost for Moscow as it readied for potential ceasefire talks on Thursday.
\nRussian \u201coccupiers\u201d were in \u201call parts\u201d of Kherson, Ukrainian regional official Gennady Lakhuta conceded late on Wednesday.
\nAfter a three-day siege that left Kherson short of food and medicine, and struggling to collect and bury its dead, the town\u2019s mayor also announced he was in talks with \u201carmed guests.\u201d
\nHe had \u201cmade no promises\u201d to the invading forces, but agreed to a night curfew and restrictions on car traffic.
\n\u201cSo far so good. The flag flying above us is Ukrainian. And for it to stay that way, these requirements must be met,\u201d he said in a Facebook post.
\nStalled elsewhere, Russia continues to make significant advances on the southern front, with troops breaking through in Kherson \u2014 opening the path west and north \u2014 and besieging the larger strategically vital port city of Mariupol.
\nThere, mayor Vadym Boychenko reported hours of punishing bombardments that trapped civilians in a city now without light, water or heating as temperatures hover around freezing.
\n\u201cToday was the hardest, cruellest of the seven days of this war,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cToday they just wanted to destroy us all.\u201d Moscow\u2019s victory in Kherson comes one week after Russian President Vladimir Putin\u2019s army marched into Ukraine from the north, east and south, training a vast arsenal of weaponry at Ukrainian cities.
\nRussian forces have sporadically bombarded civilian targets across the country, including the capital Kyiv and the majority Russian-speaking second city of Kharkiv, which is now coming under more intense attack.
\nUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called the barrage of missiles, shells and rockets a \u201cwar crime\u201d and the International Criminal Court has confirmed an investigation is underway.
\nAmid violence that has kindled memories of Europe\u2019s blood-soaked past, one million Ukrainians have now fled across the border into neighbouring Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Moldova, according to the UN refugee agency\u2019s rapidly rising tally.
\n\u201cWe left everything there as they came and ruined our lives,\u201d refugee Svitlana Mostepanenko told AFP in Prague.
\n\u201cThey\u2019re bombing even civilian houses where there are kids, small kids, children, they die now.\u201d
\nWar machine
\nPutin\u2019s long-telegraphed invasion has frequently appeared hamstrung by poor logistics, tactical blunders and fierce resistance from Ukraine\u2019s underpowered and outgunned military \u2014 and from ever-swelling ranks of volunteer fighters.
\nScores of images have emerged of burned-out Russian tanks, the charred remains of transporters and of unarmed Ukrainians confronting bewildered occupying forces.
\nA senior US defence official said the massive column of Russian military vehicles amassed north of Kyiv had \u201cstalled\u201d due to fuel and food shortages.
\nRussian authorities had been silent on the toll of the invasion, and have a domestic media blackout on what the Kremlin euphemistically calls a \u201cspecial military operation\u201d.
\nBut the Ministry of Defence on Wednesday acknowledged for the first time that 498 soldiers had \u201cdied in the line of duty\u201d.
\nUkrainian forces put the Russian toll at 10 times that number. The true figure is not known. Despite risks and restrictions, Russians have turned out for large anti-war protests across the country, in a direct challenge to Putin\u2019s 20-year rule.
\nThousands of anti-war demonstrators have been detained, including several dozen in rallies in Moscow and Saint Petersburg on Wednesday.
\n\u201cI couldn\u2019t stay at home. This war has to be stopped,\u201d student Anton Kislov, 21, told AFP.
\nDiplomatic rebuke
\nAt the United Nations, the General Assembly issued another powerful rebuke, overwhelmingly backing a resolution demanding Russia \u201cimmediately\u201d withdraw from Ukraine.
\nMoscow lost the vote 141-5 winning the support of only four other nations \u2014 Belarus, North Korea, Eritrea and Syria. Its allies China and Cuba abstained.
\nIn Washington, top US diplomat Antony Blinken warned the human costs were already \u201cstaggering,\u201d accusing Russia of attacking places that \u201caren\u2019t military targets.\u201d
\n\u201cHundreds if not thousands of civilians have been killed or wounded,\u201d said the secretary of state, who will travel to eastern Europe next week to shore up support for Ukraine \u2014 and for efforts to secure a ceasefire.
\nKyiv is sending a delegation to the Thursday ceasefire talks, at an undisclosed location on the Belarus-Poland border, but has warned it would not accept \u201cultimatums\u201d.
\nWestern countries have already imposed heavy sanctions on Russia\u2019s economy and there have been international bans and boycotts against Russia in everything from finance to tech, from sports to the arts.
\nEU and Nato members have already sent arms and ammunition to Ukraine, although they have made clear that they will not send troops and the EU has dampened Zelensky\u2019s hopes of membership of the bloc.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Russian forces have also bombarded Ukraine\u2019s second-biggest city Kharkiv KYIV Russian troops have seized Kherson, the first major Ukrainian city to fall in a devastating week-old war that has already created one million refugees. The capture of the Black Sea city of 290,000 people, which just last year hosted Nato-supported war games, appeared a significant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":247546,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4640,4641,4497],"class_list":{"0":"post-247521","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-kherson","9":"tag-russian-forces","10":"tag-ukrainian"},"yoast_head":"\n