Russian forces pounded Ukrainian cities including the capital Kyiv with artillery and cruise missiles on Saturday for a third day running and Russia's Interfax news agency said they had captured the southeastern city of Melitopol.
Ukrainian officials were not immediately available to comment on the fate of Melitopol and Britain's armed forces minister James Heappey cast doubt on the report, saying the city of some 150,000 people was still in Ukrainian hands.
"All of Russia's day one objectives ... and 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," he told BBC radio.
A graphic showing where missiles were fired on cities and military targets in Ukraine Credit: SBS News
If the Interfax report about Melitopol, which cited Russia's defence ministry, is confirmed, it would be the first significant population centre the Russians have seized.
At least 198 Ukrainians, including three children, have been killed and 1,115 people wounded so far in Russia's invasion, Interfax quoted Ukraine's Health Ministry as saying. It was unclear whether the numbers comprised only civilian casualties.
Kyiv's mayor Vitali Klitschko said 35 people, including two children, were wounded during overnight fighting in the city.
Ukrainians take shelter in a metro station after air raid sirens alarm in Kiev, Ukraine, 24 February 2022. Source: Getty / STRINGER/EPA
There were signs of panic in Kyiv city centre. Reuters reporters saw Ukrainian soldiers with guns and a group of women running along the street. Nearby, Ukrainian soldiers forced a man in civilian clothes to lie down on the pavement.
Medics gather by a high-rise apartment block that was hit by shelling in Kyiv on 26 February, 2022. Source: AFP / GENYA SAVILOV/AFP via Getty Images
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted a picture of the damaged apartment block.
"Kyiv, our splendid, peaceful city, survived another night under attacks by Russian ground forces, missiles. One of them has hit a residential apartment in Kyiv," he wrote.
Anton Herashchenko, an adviser to the Ukranian interior minister, said no one had been confirmed killed.
He also said Russia was lying about not shelling civilian infrastructure.
According to Mr Herashchenko, at least 40 such sites had been hit and Russian troops were shelling civilian sites.
Earlier, Ukrainian officials said Russian forces fired cruise missiles from the Black Sea at Mariupol, as well as Sumy in the northeast and Poltava in the east.
The Russian military said on Saturday it had targeted Ukraine's military infrastructure using cruise missiles fired from the air and sea.
'We will defend our state'
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was defiant, speaking in a video message from outside his Kyiv office on Saturday morning.
"We will not put down weapons, we will defend our state," he said.
In the selfie-style video, Mr Zelenskyy vowed to stay and fight on.
"I am here. We will not lay down any weapons. We will defend our state, because our weapons are our truth," he declared, denouncing as disinformation claims that he had surrendered or fled.
"A lot of fake information has appeared on the internet saying that I allegedly called on our army to lay down its arms and that evacuation is underway," he said.
Wearing olive green military-style clothing and looking tired but determined, he declared: "Our truth is that this is our land, our country, our children and we will protect all of this.
"This is what I wanted to tell you. Glory to Ukraine!"
A Ukrainian police officer stands in front of a damaged residential block hit by a missile strike in Kyiv. Credit: Chris McGrath/Getty Images
Ukraine has evacuated its embassy staff in Moscow to Latvia, the Baltic country's foreign ministry said on Saturday.
Tens of thousands of Ukrainians were arriving at the country's western borders with Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania. At Medyka in southern Poland, refugees described a 30 kilometre line at the border.
Refugees from Ukraine arriving in Poland at the Korczowa border crossing, 26 February, 2022. Source: Getty / Czarek Sokolowski/AP
Western nations announced personal sanctions targeting Mr Putin as his soldiers were advancing into Ukraine Friday, with Mr Zelenskyy urging the nation to defend itself.
Mr Zelenskyy, who earlier called for a stronger response from the West, said he spoke to leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and US President Joe Biden.
"We have agreed on more aid, more support, significant support for our state," he said.
'Point of no return'
Australia, the United States, Canada, Britain and the European Union announced further sanctions against Russia on Friday, including against Mr Putin and his Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Russia said the sanctions against the pair were "a demonstration of the complete impotence of the foreign policy" of the West.
Ukrainian servicemen are on patrol at security checkpoints in Kyiv. Credit: Anastasia Vlasova/Getty Images
Moscow also vetoed - as expected - a UN Security Council resolution that deplored "in the strongest terms" Russia's invasion, while China, Indian and the United Arab Emirates abstained.
Mr Putin had earlier described the Ukrainian government as "terrorists" and "a gang of drug addicts and neo-Nazis", urging the country's military to topple Mr Zelenskyy.
The Ukrainian leader responded by vowing to stay and defend the capital.
"We're all here. Our military is here. Citizens in society are here. We're all here defending our independence, our country, and it will stay this way," Mr Zelenskyy said in the self-shot video from Kyiv.
The US-led military alliance NATO said it was deploying its rapid response forces for the first time to bolster defences on the alliance's eastern flank.
Early on Saturday, Ukraine's military said on its verified Facebook page that Russia "attacked one of the military units on Victory Avenue in Kyiv. The attack was repulsed," without specifying where exactly the incident took place.
An AFP journalist said there were loud explosions heard in central Kyiv early on Saturday.
Hundreds of people have fled the capital Kyiv. Credit: Pierre Crom/Getty Images
A Russian transport plane had also been "knocked down" near Vasylkiv city, roughly 30 kilometres southwest of Kyiv, the ministry added on its official Facebook page.
Earlier, small arms fire and explosions were heard in the capital's northern district of Obolonsky as what appeared to be an advance party of Russia's invasion force left a trail of destruction.
Ukrainian forces reported fighting with Russian armoured units in two locations between 40-80 kilometres north of Kyiv.
The Ukrainian defence ministry urged "citizens to inform us of troop movements, to make Molotov cocktails, and neutralise the enemy".
The ministry said that 2,800 Russian soldiers had been killed, without providing evidence. Moscow has yet to report on casualties.
'Not real diplomacy'
Mr Lavrov said Moscow was ready to talk but only if Ukraine's armed forces "lay down their arms", adding that "nobody intends to occupy Ukraine".
A Kremlin spokesman said Mr Putin was ready to send a delegation to Belarusian capital Minsk "for talks with a Ukrainian delegation".
But the US swiftly dismissed the offer.
After invading Ukraine, "now we see Moscow suggesting diplomacy take place at the barrel of a gun. This is not real diplomacy," State Department spokesman Ned Price said.
The UN said that more than 50,000 Ukrainians had fled the country in the past two days, calling for "safe unimpeded access" for aid operations.
Streams of people in cars and on foot were seen crossing into Hungary, Poland and Romania while hundreds camped out in a train station in the Polish border city of Przemysl.
About 100,000 people are believed to be internally displaced, and in Kyiv, many residents fled their homes and took shelter in the city's subway system.
