Russian forces took control of their first city in southern Ukraine, the shipbuilding centre Kherson, and intensified attacks on other centres, hitting many civilian targets.

Moscow said it had lost 495 servicemen in a week of fighting, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky put the Russian death toll at 9,000. Zelensky praised his compatriots’ heroism and said captured Russian servicemen were “lost children” with no notion of why they had been sent to Ukraine.

The U.N. said more than a million people fleeing the fighting had left the country – with Poland and Moldova the most favoured destinations.

In New York, the U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted a resolution denouncing the Russian invasion and calling for the immediate withdrawal of Russian forces – a largely symbolic measure without legal repercussions.

Russia continued to feel the effects of Western sanctions,  with the Moscow stock market shut for the third consecutive day and interest rates doubled to prop up the collapsing rouble.

New negotiations planned

Russian and Ukrainian negotiators tried to organise a second round of talks on Thursday after an initial round produced little in response to
Ukraine’s call for an immediate ceasefire.

Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin launched the invasion, weeks after more than 100,000 troops massed on Ukraine’s border, on grounds that Ukraine was run by neo-Nazis who committed “genocide” against Russian-speakers. He said the West had ignored his calls for “security guarantees”, including an undertaking that Ukraine would never join NATO.

Kherson, a key point allowing for advances to the Black Sea port of Odesa, came under Russian control after sustained shelling and conflicting reports of which side held the upper hand. The town’s mayor, Ihor Kolykhayev, said Russian soldiers had forced their way into the city council and imposed a curfew.

The key Sea of Azov port of Mariupol was also subjected to heavy shelling, with officials suggesting dozens of hundreds of residents might have been killed. Capturing Mariupol would provide Russia with a “corridor” between Crimea. annexed by Moscow in 2014. and two regions in eastern Ukraine held for eight years by Moscow proxies.

Shelling in Kharkiv, Kyiv

Ukraine’s second city, Kharkiv, remained in government hands despite repeated attacks and the arrival of Russian paratroops.

Kyiv, too, sustained considerable shelling, with explosions jolting the city of nearly three million from early morning. Some 15,000 residents, including many children, were holed up in the city’s Metro stations. More were crammed into underground shelters.

A very long convoy of Russian military vehicles was still making slow progress in its journey toward the capital. A Pentagon assessment said Ukrainian forces were offering stiff resistance north of Kyiv.

A large roadblock was formed by civilians and a variety of vehicles outside a major nuclear power plant near Zaporizhia – Europe’s largest with six reactors.

In the latest of his messages aimed at boosting morale, Zelensky said Ukrainian defenders had “ruined” Russian plans for a rapid takeover. Captured Russian soldiers, he said, provided evidence that the soldiers were disoriented.

“They don’t know why they are here,” he said.“These are not warriors of a superpower. These are confused children who have been used.

“Even though there are 10 times more of them, the enemy’s morale is getting lower and lower.”

At the United Nations, only five nations voted against the resolution in the General Assembly – Russia, Belarus, Syria, Eritrea and North Korea. Most of the 30-odd abstentions were from Africa and Asian nations – some complained of a double standard, suggesting Western nations fail to react to violence in their countries.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who had played a major role in diplomatic efforts to avert the invasion, said Putin had relied on lies to justify the invasion.

“It is alone, betraying his international commitments one by one, that President Putin chose war, Macron said in a televised address ahead of an expected announcement this week that he is to seek re-election.

“This war is not a conflict between the West and Russia, as some would have us believe. These are lies. Russia is not aggressed, it is the aggressor. This is not a fight against Nazism. It’s a lie.”