Moscow Makes Gains in South, Besieges Energy Hub & Seacoast

Russian forces have seizedthe first major Ukrainiancity in their onslaught, the strategic port of Kherson, as they stepped up bombardment of civilian targets across the country, put other cities under siege and pushed to encircle and cut off the capital, Kyiv.

The assaults have deepened a humanitarian crisis that has prompted more than one million people to flee the country — or over 2% of its population — in seven days, and a million more to abandon their homes, according to the United Nations. The UN predicted that 10 million Ukrainians — roughly a quarter of the population — could be displaced, including about four million becoming refugees in other countries.

On Thursday, Russian forces battled for control of a crucial energy-producing city in Ukraine’s south and gained ground in their bid to cut off the country from the sea. The fighting at Enerhodar, a city on the Dnieper River that accounts for about one-quarter of the country’s power generation, came as another round of talks between the two sides held second round of peace talks. Enerhodar is the site of Zaporizhzhia — the biggest nuclear plant in Europe. The city’s mayor said Ukrainian forces were battling Russian troops on the city’s outskirts. Video showed flames and clouds of black smoke rising above the city of over 50,000, with people streaming away from the inferno, past wrecked cars, as sirens wailed.