Russian forces have moved into Ukraine’s second-largest city, resulting in street fighting and damage to Kharkiv’s infrastructure.
Russian troops had remained on the outskirts of Kharkiv until Sunday, when they moved into the city of 1.4 million people. Videos posted on social media showed Russian vehicles moving across the city and Ukrainian soldiers firing at the Russian forces.
As The Associated Press reported, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office said that Russian forces blew up a gas pipeline. Officials have warned citizens to cover their windows with damp cloth or gauze to protect themselves from the smoke.
The number of casualties in Ukraine remains unclear due to the conflict. The nation’s health minister, Viktor Liashko, said on social media Saturday that 198 Ukrainians had been killed due to the fighting, including three children. More than a thousand have been wounded, according to Liashko.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, meanwhile, said a Russian delegation of diplomats and military officials had arrived in the Belarusian city of Gomel on Sunday.
Zelensky has said Ukraine is ready for peace talks, but suggested a different location for talks due to Belarus having been a staging ground for Russia’s invasion last week.
“Warsaw, Bratislava, Budapest, Istanbul, Baku, we offered all of them to the Russian side and we will accept any other city in a country that hasn’t been used for launching missiles,” he said, according to the AP. “Only then the talks could be honest and put an end to the war.”
–Updated at 12:52 p.m.