Russia-Ukraine war latest news: Biden condemns Putin ‘tyranny’; Russian troops land in Kharkiv – live

Russian troops have reportedly landed in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second most populous city, according to the Security Service of Ukraine.

Ukrainian authorities said at approximately 3am local time, Russian airborne troops landed and engaged in heavy fighting with Ukrainian forces.

“A Russian landing party landed in Kharkiv,” an alert from Ukraine’s State Special Communications agency read just before 3am.

The agency said the soldiers attacked the military medical clinical centre hospital, adding that a “battle broke out between the invaders and the Ukrainian defenders.”

The city, with a population of about 1.5 million, has been encircled for days and saw at least six people killed when the region’s administrative building on Freedom Square was hit with what was believed to be a missile.

The attack on Freedom Square — Ukraine’s largest plaza, and the nucleus of public life in the city — was seen by many Ukrainians as brazen evidence that the Russian invasion wasn’t just about hitting military targets but also about breaking their spirit.

The bombardment blew out windows and walls of buildings that ring the massive square, which was piled high with debris and dust.

“People are under the ruins. We have pulled out bodies,” said Yevhen Vasylenko, an emergency official.

Zelenskiy pronounced the attack on the square “frank, undisguised terror” and a war crime. “This is state terrorism of the Russian Federation,” he said.

A Royal Australian Air Force plane left for Europe today carrying military equipment and medical supplies, following prime minister Scott Morrison’s announcement that Australia will provide defensive military assistance to Ukraine.

Morrison said on Sunday that Australia would provide weapons to Ukraine through Nato, supplementing nonlethal equipment and supplies.

The joint operations command of the Australian military shared a snap of the plane taking off from the RAAF Base Richmond in New South Wales around 5.30pm AEST.

More than 450,000 people entered Poland from Ukraine since the Russian invasion began last Thursday, Poland’s deputy interior minister Pawel Szefernaker told private Radio Zet on Wednesday.

He added that the number of people entering Poland fell slightly on Tuesday to 98,000 from a record number of more than 100,000 on Monday.

At least 21 people have been killed and 112 wounded from shelling in Ukraine’s second most populous city, Kharkiv, the regional governor has said.

Overnight, Ukrainian defence positions were “constantly under the influence of enemy fire, aviation, jet artillery, and firearms,” Oleh Sinehubov said in an update on his official Facebook page this morning.

Sinehubov said the northern and northeast sectors of the city were attacked, confirming an attack on a military hospital.

The United Nations has said that at least 136 civilians have been killed in the invasion, although the real number of people is likely much higher.

As the human cost mounts, here are some details on some of the civilians who have perished. They include 10-year-old Polina, who was killed in Kyiv along with members of her family by alleged “Russian saboteurs”, and secondary school teachers Yelena Ivanova and Yelena Kudrin, who died during a shelling in Goldovka.

Russia’s largest lender, Sberbank, is leaving the European market as its subsidiaries there face large cash outflows and threats to the safety of employees and property, the bank said on Wednesday.

The bank said it was no longer able to supply liquidity to European subsidiaries, but its capital level and asset quality were sufficient to make payments to all depositors. In a statement, it said:

In the current situation, Sberbank has decided to leave the European market.

The group’s subsidiary banks have faced abnormal cash outflows and threats to the safety of its employees and branches.”

Unprecedented steps by western nations to isolate Russia’s economy and financial system over its invasion of Ukraine include sanctions on its central bank and the exclusion of some of its lenders from global payments system Swift.

On Monday, the European Central Bank (ECB) warned that Sberbank’s European arm faced closure after a run on its deposits sparked by the invasion backlash.

Sberbank, which operates in Austria, Croatia, Germany and Hungary among other nations, had European assets worth 13 billion euros by 31 December 2020.

It is 8am in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv as residents wake to the now-familiar sound of air raid sirens and an aftermath of destruction.

Local media and journalists on the ground are reporting sounds of emergency warnings throughout the city, just hours after two Russian missiles struck the TV tower, killing five people and leaving five others injured as well as knocking out some access to news and broadcasts.

Late in the evening more explosions were reported in residential neighbourhoods.

The mood in the city, however, remains defiant.

“Kyiv is bloodied but still standing,” one reporter said this morning.

Meanwhile, Russian troops reportedly landed in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, overnight.

Ukrainian authorities said at approximately 3am local time, Russian airborne troops landed and engaged in heavy fighting with Ukrainian forces.

The city, with a population of about 1.5 million, had been encircled for days and saw at least six people killed when the region’s administrative building on Freedom Square was hit with what was believed to be a missile.

Another 10 people were killed and 35 wounded by a series of missile strikes on homes and offices in the city on Tuesday. They included a long-range rocket fired at the city’s main regional administrative building, a symbol of Ukrainian statehood.

In step with the recent outpouring of economic relief to Ukraine, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said on Wednesday that she, Vice President William Lai and Premier Su Tseng-chang will each donate one month’s salary to help with humanitarian relief efforts for Ukraine, Reuters reports.

Ukraine’s besieged cities have come under more heavy bombardment after Russian commanders facing fierce resistance intensified their shelling of urban areas. Here is where Russian troops currently stand.

Mobile-phone video shows wrecked residential buildings with no windows, and fallen trees and power lines, in the aftermath of strikes that killed at least 11 people in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city on Monday.

Kharkiv’s regional administration chief said artillery had pounded residential districts. The city has been the target of some of the worst aerial attacks since Ukraine was invaded by Russian forces.

Moscow’s stock market will stay closed for the third consecutive day on Wednesday, the Moscow Times reports.

Russian brokers have been ordered to reject sell orders from foreign investors when the market eventually reopens.