Since the start of the offensive, more than 350 Ukrainian civilians have been killed, including 14 children, according to Kyiv. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said overnight that it feared an offensive from Belarus in the north.

The number of refugees leaving Ukraine has jumped again, reaching 835,928 as of March 1, of whom 453,982 have found refuge in Poland, according to a census on Wednesday by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Here is an update on the situation, based on elements from AFP journalists on site and emergency services as well as Ukrainian statements and analysts. Russia for its part communicates very little about its offensive.

Kherson

On Wednesday morning, the Russian army claimed to have taken “full control” of the Ukrainian port city of Kherson (south), near the Crimean peninsula, after fierce fighting in recent hours.

Shortly before, its mayor, Igor Kolykhaiev, nevertheless ensured that the city remained under Ukrainian control, even if the Russians were at the port and at the station.

The city and its outskirts have suffered intense bombardment in recent hours.

Kharkiv

Russian airborne troops have landed in the city of Kharkiv, the country’s second largest city, the Ukrainian army announced at dawn without giving an idea of their number.

After several bombings on Tuesday in the city center, which had killed at least 21 people according to the regional governor, new strikes hit the regional headquarters of the security and police forces on Wednesday morning, as well as the university of this metropolis located 50 km from the Russian border, according to emergency services.

At least four people were killed and nine others injured in these bombardments.

Rescuers say they have deployed 21 vehicles and 90 people to put out ongoing fires and take care of the victims.

Mariupol

The Russian army, which has already seized the port of Berdiansk, is currently attacking that of Mariupol, also on the Sea of Azov.

More than a hundred people were injured on Tuesday in a Russian fire in Mariupol, according to the town hall.

Control of this port is key for the Russian army, in order to ensure territorial continuity between its forces from Crimea and those from the separatist territories of Donbass. The two groups joined forces on Tuesday, according to Moscow.

Kyiv

In the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, some 500 km further west, where residents who did not flee had been preparing for an assault for days, relative calm reigned after a strike the previous day on the television tower which left five dead.

Men in military uniform wrapped the bodies – apparently four family members and a state television reporter – to take them to the morgue, AFP found.

The tower is adjacent to the Babi Yar memorial park where nearly 34,000 Jews were massacred in two days by Nazi occupiers in 1941.

Photos from the American satellite imagery company Maxar released overnight from Monday to Tuesday showed a long Russian convoy advancing towards the capital. A senior Pentagon official, however, said Tuesday that the movement on the capital, strong in normal times of some three million inhabitants, seemed “at a standstill”, citing problems with the supply of food and fuel.