Russian forces pressed their attacks on crowded Ukrainian cities on Wednesday after President Biden’s warned during his State of the Union address that Russian President Vladimir Putin wouldn’t stop with one country if he doesn’t “pay a price.”
Russia claimed that its forces control the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, but that could not be immediately verified
Read The Hill’s complete coverage below:
Ukrainians block road to nuclear plant
8:20 a.m.
Hundreds of Ukrainian nuclear power plant workers and nearby citizens on Wednesday blocked Russian troop access to a nuclear power plant, attempting to prevent Russian forces from advancing in the area, according to a video shared to social media and verified by CNN.
In the video, the crowd of people is seen holding up Ukrainian flags and impeding roadway access to a facility in the Ukraine town of Enerhodarby standing in the way of the route and using garbage trucks to block streets, CNN reports.
–MAUREEN BRESLIN
Zelensky: Nearly 6,000 Russian soldiers killed
8:00 a.m.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced during a televised address on Wednesday that nearly 6,000 Russian soldiers have been killed since the start of the invasion.
“Think of this number: almost 6,000 Russians died. Russian military. In six days of war,” Zelensky noted in his speech. “This is without counting the losses of the enemy last night. Six thousand. To get what? Get Ukraine? It is impossible.”
Zelensky also encouraged Ukrainians to keep fighting.
–CAMERON JENKINS
Zelensky: Russian forces have an order to ‘erase’ Ukraine
7:55 a.m.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address on Wednesday that Russian forces have an order to “erase” Ukraine as he spoke about the areas targeted by Russia’s military, including a Holocaust memorial site that was bombed.
Zelensky said that Russian forces “destroyed us all by striking at residential buildings in Borodyanka.”
“We were all bombed in Kyiv last night. And we all died again in Babyn Yar – from a missile strike,” he said.
–CAROLINE VAKIL
Russia says forces take first large city in Ukraine
7:39 a.m.
Russia is claiming that its forces have seized the first major city in Ukraine almost one week after Moscow’s invasion was launched, though a military adviser to the Ukrainian president reports that the battle in Kherson rages on.
“The city is not experiencing shortages in food and essential goods,” the Russian Defense Ministry claimed in a statement regarding Kherson, according to The New York Times. “Negotiations are ongoing between the Russian command, the administration of the city and the region to address issues of maintaining the functioning of social infrastructure facilities, ensuring law and order and the safety of the population.”
The Times noted that it could not immediately verify Russia’s claim, adding that Oleksiy Arestovich, a military adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said that the battle for the city, located northwest of Crimea, is ongoing.
–CAROLINE VAKIL
4 killed in airstrikes on Kharkiv, authorities say
7:21
Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov announced that four people had been killed during airstrikes on Wednesday as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine entered its seventh day.
Nine other people were injured as a result of the attack, Terekhov added, according to Reuters.
“Kharkiv is a Russian-speaking city. Every fourth person in Kharkiv has relatives in the Russian Federation,” Terekhov reportedly said in a video statement. “But the city’s attitude to Russia today is completely different to what it ever was before.”
BY CAMERON JENKINS
Ukrainian maternity ward moves to basement for shelter
6:59 a.m.
MARIUPOL, Ukraine (AP) – In a makeshift maternity ward in the basement of a Ukrainian hospital, new mother Kateryna Suharokova struggled to control her emotions as she held her son while doctors upstairs raced to treat victims of Russian shelling.
“I was anxious, anxious about giving birth to the baby in these times,” the 30-year-old said, her voice trembling. “I’m thankful to the doctors, who helped this baby to be born in these conditions. I believe that everything will be fine.”
–THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
