Picture Twitter / ANI
Russian forces have seized control of the key southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, its mayor said. “Russian forces seize the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson after taking control of the local council building,” Kherson’s mayor, Igor Kolykhaiev, said in a Facebook post on March 2,” tweeted The Kyiv Independent.
Indicating that the city is now under Russia’s control, Kolykhaiev, in a social media post, said that the Ukrainian military is no longer in the city and that its inhabitants must now carry out instructions of “armed people who came to the city’s administration”, CNN reported.
Russian forces had surrounded Kherson, a strategically important city on an inlet from the Black Sea with a population of nearly 300,000, for several days, according to the media outlet.
Earlier, Amid escalating fight between Russia and Ukraine, capital city Kyiv on Thursday woke up with an air raid alert. The residents were advised to take shelter in safe houses. There is a 3.5 hour time difference between Ukraine and Kyiv.
“Air raid alert in Kyiv. Residents should go to the nearest shelter,” tweeted The Kyiv Independent.
A building of the military faculty of Sumy State University in Ukraine’s northeastern city Sumy was shelled this morning by Russian forces.
