An Ukrainian Territorial Defence fighter examines a destroyed Russian infantry mobility vehicle GAZ Tigr after the fight in Kharkiv on 27 February 2022. Photo: Sergey BOBOK / AFP
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Ukrainian forces secured full control of Kharkiv on Sunday following street fighting with Russian troops in the country’s second biggest city, the local governor said.
“Kharkiv is fully under our control,” the head of the regional administration, Oleg Sinegubov, said on messaging app Telegram, adding that the army was expelling Russian forces during a “clean-up” operation.
Earlier on Sunday he had said that Russian forces’ light vehicles broke into the city, with fighting breaking out in the streets.
An AFP correspondent in the city heard machine gun fire and explosions.
Sinegubov said that Russian troops were “absolutely demoralised”.
He said Russian forces were abandoning their vehicles “in the middle of the road” and groups of five were surrendering to the Ukrainian army.
“As soon as they see at least one representative of the armed forces, they surrender,” Sinegubov said.
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He said that “dozens” of Russian soldiers have already surrendered.
“The captured Russian fighters speak of complete exhaustion and demoralisation, they have no connection with the central command, they do not understand and do not know what they do next,” the Kharkiv governor said.
“Since the beginning of the attack on Ukraine, they have not received food and water,” he added.
“Leaving the positions, Russian fighters are trying to hide among the civilian population, asking people for clothes and food.”
Earlier on Sunday Ukraine said it had agreed to talks with Russia after four days of conflict, as Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his defence chiefs to put nuclear “deterrence forces” on alert.
The conflict has already killed dozens of civilians, forced hundreds of thousands to flee and turned Moscow into a global pariah.
President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office said a Ukrainian delegation would meet the Russian one at the border with Belarus, which has allowed Russian troops passage to attack Ukraine.
The meeting is set to take place near Chernobyl – the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster.
“The politicians agreed that the Ukrainian delegation would meet the Russian one without preconditions,” Zelensky’s office said in a statement after the president spoke to his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko.
As Western countries lined up to send arms into Ukraine and impose ever more stringent sanctions, Putin ordered his defence chiefs to put the country’s nuclear “deterrence forces” on high alert.
Putin accused Western countries of taking “unfriendly” steps against his country.
Ukraine has reported 198 civilian deaths, including three children, since the invasion began.
The UN has put the civilian toll at 64.
“The past night in Ukraine was brutal,” Zelensky said.
“They fight against everyone. They fight against all living things – against kindergartens, against residential buildings and even against ambulances.”
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