Russia-Ukraine war latest news: Putin’s troops land in Kharkiv as Zelenskiy says ‘they have orders to erase us all’ – live

Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has called on Russians to stage daily protests against Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine, his spokesperson wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.

“Alexei Navalny has called for people to go out and protest against the war every day at 19:00 and on weekends at 14:00. The main squares of your towns, wherever you are,” spokesperson Kira Yarmysh wrote.

Navalny’s movement had previously called for a campaign of civil disobedience to protest against Russia’s invasion of its neighbour.

Navalny, the most prominent opponent of President Vladimir Putin, was jailed last year after he returned to Russia from Germany following his recovery from what Western laboratory tests established was an attempt to poison him with a nerve agent in Siberia. Russia denied carrying out such an attack.

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said nearly 6,000 Russians had been killed in the first six days of Moscow’s invasion, and that the Kremlin would not be able to take his country with bombs and airstrikes.

In his latest speech, he also condemned a missile strike on Babyn Yar, a Holocaust memorial in Kyiv, saying: “It is beyond humanity.”

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak has told the Reuters news agency that holding more talks with Russia was under discussion and that a “substantial agenda” was needed.

Asked about the date for a second round of talks since Russia invaded its neighbour last week, Podolyak said:

It’s under discussion for now. A substantial agenda is needed.

Russia has claimed that its forces had taken control of the first sizeable city on Wednesday, seizing Kherson in the south.

Strategically located on the Dniepr river, the provincial capital would be the biggest city to fall to Russian forces so far.

The southeast city of Mariupol had been under intense shelling since late Tuesday and was unable to evacuate wounded, according to its mayor.

However, we are still awaiting confirmation from the Ukrainians about the current status of Kherson.

The European Commission has proposed to grant temporary protection to people fleeing war in Ukraine, including a residence permit and access to employment and social welfare.

Designed to deal with mass arrivals of displaced persons in the EU, the new legislation will provide the same level of protection in all member states.

The proposal, which had been previously announced, will be discussed by EU interior ministers on Thursday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine will become more brutal, British defence minister Ben Wallace said on Wednesday.

“Anyone who thinks logically would not do what he (Putin) is doing, so we are going to see … his brutality increase,” Wallace told LBC radio.

“He doesn’t get his way, he surrounds cities, he ruthlessly bombards them at night … and he will then eventually try and break them and move into the cities.”

Russia cancelled an attempt to send four of its warships through Turkish waters into the Black Sea at Turkey’s request, Foreign minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlusaid, adding the decision was made before Ankara closed the straits over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Nato member Turkey borders Ukraine and Russia in the Black Sea and has good ties with both. On Monday, Ankara said it had closed its Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits under a 1936 pact, allowing it to curb some Russian vessels crossing. The pact exempts vessels returning to their bases.

Çavuşoğlu told broadcaster Haberturk that Turkey had asked Russia not to send its ships through before it labelled Moscow’s invasion a “war” on Sunday, legally allowing it to curb passages under the Montreux convention.

“Russia has said four of its ships would cross the straits on Feb 27-28, three of which are not registered to bases in the Black Sea,” Çavuşoğlu said. “We told Russia not to send these ships and Russia said the vessels would not cross the straits.”

“Nobody should be offended by this, because the Montreux convention is valid today, yesterday and tomorrow, so we will implement it,” he said.

Reuters reported earlier this week that at least four Russian ships – two destroyers, a frigate, and an intelligence vessel – were waiting on Turkey’s decision to cross from the Mediterranean. Two of them, a frigate and a destroyer, had asked to make the journey this week.

The US “expressed appreciation” for Turkey’s move to close the straits. Ukraine’s ambassador to Ankara said Kyiv was grateful to Turkey for “meticulously” implementing the pact.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday nearly 6,000 Russians had been killed in the first six days of Moscow’s invasion, and that the Kremlin would not be able to take his country with bombs and airstrikes.

Referring to Russia’s attack on Babyn Yar – the site of a second world war massacre of Jews by German occupation troops and Ukrainian auxiliaries – Zelenskiy said:

This strike proves that for many people in Russia our Kyiv is absolutely foreign. They don’t know a thing about Kyiv, about our history. But they all have orders to erase our history, erase our country, erase us all.

The British Ministry of Defence has published its latest intelligence report on the situation in Ukraine today.

It says that while Russian forces have moved into the centre of Kherson in the south of the country, overall gains have been “limited” due to ongoing logistical issues and strong Ukrainian resistance.

Heavy Russian artillery and airstrikes have continued to hit built-up areas, focused in the cities of Kharkiv, Kyiv, Mariupol and Chernihiv, in the past 24 hours, it says.

The update adds that the number of civilians left displaced and forced to flee stands at about 660,000.

I’m Tom Ambrose and I’ll be bringing you the latest updates from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine over the next few hours.

It is 9.30am in Ukraine. Here’s where we stand right now:

• Russian troops have reportedly landed in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second most populous city, according to the Security Service of Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities said Russian airborne troops landed at approximately 3am local time and engaged in heavy fighting with Ukrainian forces.
• Ukrainian authorities say a Russian missile strike at about 8.10am hit a police building and a university in Kharkiv this morning.
• Overnight reports said a fire at a hospital in Kharkiv broke out. According to an alert issued just before 3am from Ukraine’s State Special Communications agency, Russian soldiers attacked a military medical clinical centre hospital in the city’s north.
• In Kherson on the Black Sea in southern Ukraine, Russian forces have taken control of the railway station and the port overnight, city mayor Igor Kolykhayev was quoted by local media, Agence France-Press reports.
• Ukraine is set to receive more Stinger and Javelin missiles from abroad, as well as another shipment of Turkish drones, according to Ukrainian defence minister Oleksii Reznikov.
• Germany is prepared should Russia stop exporting gas to the country, minister for the economy Robert Habeck has said.
• More than 450,000 people entered Poland from Ukraine since the Russian invasion began last Thursday, Poland’s deputy interior minister Pawel Szefernaker told private Radio Zet on Wednesday.
• The United Nations said that at least 136 civilians have been killed in the invasion, although the real number of people is likely much higher.
• At least 21 people have been killed and 112 wounded from shelling in Ukraine’s second most populous city, Kharkiv, the regional governor said.
• Russia’s largest lender, Sberbank, is leaving the European market as its subsidiaries there face large cash outflows and threats to the safety of employees and property, the bank said on Wednesday.
• Moscow’s stock market will stay closed for a third consecutive day on Wednesday, the Moscow Times reports.
• Russia president Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to prohibit Russians from leaving the country with more than $10,000 in foreign currency, Russia state media outlet Tass reports.
• US president Joe Biden delivered his first State of the Union address from Capitol Hill on Tuesday evening, commending the Ukrainian people’s resolve to fight and vowing that Putin must “pay a price” for his actions in Ukraine.
• The US will ban Russian flights from its airspace, US president Joe Biden confirmed.

For an even more detailed update, you can read our earlier summary here.

For any tips and feedback please contact me through Twitter or at samantha.lock@theguardian.com

Ukrainian authorities say a Russian missile strike at about 8.10am this morning hit a police building and a university in Kharkiv.

The State Service for Emergencies uploaded a series of photos showing firefighters and rescue teams battling a blaze billowing from the top of a large building.

The strike also reportedly hit the state security service (SBU) building.

Ukraine is set to receive more Stinger and Javelin missiles from abroad, as well as another shipment of Turkish drones, according to Ukrainian defence minister Oleksii Reznikov.

In an update posted to his Facebook and Telegram accounts, Reznikov said:

The amount of help we are receiving is increasing. The number of countries providing this assistance is growing. Even those for whom it was considered impossible are joining. More stingers and javelins to come.”

Several western countries have pledged to supply Ukraine with weapons to fend off a Russian invasion.

Germany is prepared should Russia stop exporting gas to the country, minister for the economy Robert Habeck has said.

Asked by Deutschlandfunk radio what the government would do if Russia stops gas exports, Reuters reports Habeck replied:

We are prepared for that. I can give the all-clear for the current winter and summer. For the next winter, we would take further measures.

Habeck pointed to planned new legislation to ensure gas storage is full for winter.

“So we are also taking precautions for the worst case, which has not happened yet because the Russians are delivering,” he said, adding that in a worse case scenario Berlin could keep “coal-fired power plants in reserve, maybe even keep them running”, but that it was committed to moving to renewables in the medium-term.

A Royal Australian Air Force plane left for Europe today carrying military equipment and medical supplies, following prime minister Scott Morrison’s announcement that Australia will provide defensive military assistance to Ukraine.

Morrison said on Sunday that Australia would provide weapons to Ukraine through Nato, supplementing nonlethal equipment and supplies.

The joint operations command of the Australian military shared a snap of the plane taking off from the RAAF Base Richmond in New South Wales around 5.30pm AEST.

More than 450,000 people entered Poland from Ukraine since the Russian invasion began last Thursday, Poland’s deputy interior minister Pawel Szefernaker told private Radio Zet on Wednesday.

He added that the number of people entering Poland fell slightly on Tuesday to 98,000 from a record number of more than 100,000 on Monday.