KYIV (REUTERS) - Russian forces captured the south-eastern Ukrainian city of Melitopol on Saturday (Feb 26), Russia's Interfax news agency reported, as Moscow launched coordinated cruise missile and artillery strikes on several cities, including the capital Kyiv.
Ukrainian officials were not immediately available for comment on the fate of Melitopol, a city of about 150,000 people.
If confirmed, it would be the first significant population centre the Russians have seized since their invasion began on Thursday.
The Russian claim is being disputed by British armed forces minister James Heappey.
He said it was the British assessment that Russia has so far failed to capture any of its day one targets for its invasion.
“Even Melitopol, which the Russians are claiming to have taken but we can’t see anything to substantiate that, are all still in Ukrainian hands,” Mr Heappey told BBC radio.
Earlier, Ukrainian officials said Russian forces fired cruise missiles from the Black Sea at Mariupol, as well as Sumy in the north-east and Poltava in the east.
Kyiv authorities said a missile hit a residential building and a Reuters witness said another hit an area near the airport.
There were no casualties in the strike on the residential building, a Ukrainian adviser to the interior ministry said.
Earlier, gunfire erupted near Kyiv's city-centre government buildings, a Reuters witness said. The cause was not clear.
Russia's defence ministry said its army is targeting Ukraine's military infrastructure with cruise missiles from the air and sea.
“During the night, the armed forces of the Russian Federation launched a strike with long-range precision weapons using air- and sea-launched cruise missiles against the military infrastructure of Ukraine,” Russian defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in televised remarks.
Despite photographic evidence on the ground of residential buildings being hit, Mr Konashenkov said that the Russian army targeted only military infrastructure without damaging “residential and social infrastructure”.
Ukrainian authorities have urged citizens to help defend Kyiv from the advancing Russian forces. But even as the fighting grew more intense, the Russian and Ukrainian governments signalled an openness to negotiations, offering the first glimmer of hope for diplomacy since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion.
The air force command earlier reported heavy fighting near an air base at Vasylkiv, south-west of the capital, which it said was under attack from Russian paratroopers.
It said one of its fighters had shot down a Russian transport plane. Reuters could not independently verify the claims.
Mr Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the president's office, said the situation in Kyiv and its outskirts was under control.
"There are cases of sabotage and reconnaissance groups working in the city, police and self-defence forces are working efficiently against them," Mr Podolyak said.
Kyiv residents were told by the defence ministry to make petrol bombs to repel the invaders.
