Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine conflict

Russian forces have taken the Ukrainian city of Kherson, local officials confirmed, the first major urban centre to fall since Moscow invaded one week ago.

"The (Russian) occupiers are in all parts of the city and are very dangerous," Gennady Lakhuta, head of the regional administration, wrote on messaging service Telegram late Wednesday.

The strategic port city of 290,000 people near the Black Sea came under siege as Russian forces pressed ahead with their offensive across other urban centres.

Another key Ukrainian port, Berdiansk, has already been seized by Russian troops, while Mariupol has repelled attacks "with dignity," according to that city's mayor, Vadim Boichenko.

Russian forces have also bombarded Ukraine's second-biggest city Kharkiv, prompting comparisons to the massacres of civilians in Sarajevo in the 1990s.

Kyiv: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday that his country had thwarted Russia's "sneaky" plans, saying he was proud of the "heroic" resistance to Moscow's invasion.

"We are a nation that broke the enemy´s plans in a week. Plans written for years: sneaky, full of hatred for our country, our people," Zelensky said in a video posted on Telegram.

Washington: The World Bank on Wednesday announced it was halting all of its ongoing projects in Russia and Belarus in response to the invasion of Ukraine.

Citing the "hostilities against the people of Ukraine," the development lender said it "has stopped all its programs in Russia and Belarus with immediate effect."

The bank finances infrastructure projects and provides policy advice to members, but "has not approved any new loans to or investments in Russia since 2014. There has also been no new lending approved to Belarus since mid-2020."

The UN said Wednesday that it had recorded nearly 230 civilian deaths in Ukraine, including 15 children, since Russia's full-scale invasion began, warning that the true toll was likely far higher.

The UN rights office, OHCHR, said it had registered 752 civilian casualties in Ukraine, including 227 people killed and 525 people wounded, between February 24, when Russia invaded, and midnight Tuesday. 

The UN General Assembly on Wednesday overwhelmingly adopted a resolution that "demands" Russia "immediately" withdraw from Ukraine, in a powerful rebuke of Moscow's invasion by a vast majority of the world's nations.

After more than two days of extraordinary debate, which saw the Ukrainian ambassador accuse Russia of genocide, 141 out of 193 United Nations member states voted for the non-binding resolution. 

WASHINGTON: The United States on Wednesday announced more sanctions over Moscow's war against Ukraine, this time targeting Russian ally Belarus and Russia's defense industry.

The White House unveiled "sweeping restrictions on Belarus to choke off its import of technological goods in response to its support" of Russia's war.

It also announced "sanctions that target Russia's defense sector" to "impose significant costs on Russian weapon development and production companies."

LONDON: Russian businessman Roman Abramovich said on Wednesday he had decided to sell Chelsea Football Club, 19 years after buying the London side, and promised to donate money from the sale to help victims of the war in Ukraine.

"I have always taken decisions with the club's best interest at heart," Abramovich said in statement published by the reigning European and world soccer champions on their website.

"In the current situation, I have therefore taken the decision to sell the club, as I believe this is in the best interest of the club, the fans, the employees, as well as the club's sponsors and partners."

Abramovich said he would not ask for loans he has made to the club — reported to total 1.5 billion pounds ($2.0 billion) — to be repaid to him and the sale would not be fast-tracked.

He said he had told his aides to set up a charitable foundation which would receive all net proceeds from the sale.

PARIS: Russian President Vladimir Putin has hastened his own downfall with a war in Ukraine that he cannot win, exiled opponent the former tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky charged on Tuesday.

Khodorkovsky told France 24 television in an interview from London that Putin´s decision to order an invasion of Ukraine was an "emotional" move by a leader who is increasingly "paranoid".

"It is a suicide. He cannot win in Ukraine, even if they take Kyiv and the (eastern city) of Kharkiv. This is hastening his end."

"The regime will decompose. It will not be rapid, we are talking about one or two years," said Khodorkovsky, adding that the end could come about due to a collapse of the economy.

Khodorkovsky was long Russia's most famous prisoner, jailed from 2003 to 2013 on charges his supporters said were manufactured for his daring to challenge Putin.

But before his arrest, Khodorkovsky had as chief executive of the Yukos oil giant gained first-hand knowledge of Putin through face-to-face meetings.

He argued that before launching the invasion, Putin had been on course to stay in power all his life but had now committed a "historic" error.

BRUSSELS: EU foreign ministers will hold urgent talks Friday with their counterparts from Ukraine, the US, Britain and Canada as well as NATO's chief on Russia´s invasion, the bloc's foreign policy chief said.

The meeting, announced on Twitter by the EU's Josep Borrell, comes as Western allies send weapons to Ukraine and roll out a barrage of sanctions against Russia over its war on its pro-Western neighbour.

MOSCOW: Russia's defence ministry said on Wednesday that 498 Russian soldiers had died in Ukraine and another 1,597 had been wounded since the beginning of Moscow's military operation there, Russia's RIA news agency reported.

It was the first time that Moscow had put a figure on its casualties.