498 Russian soldiers killed, 1,597 wounded in Ukraine since invasion: Russia

Russia's defence ministry on Wednesday said 498 Russian soldiers had died and 1,597 were wounded in Ukraine since the start of the invasion last week. 

Ukrainian military officials however said nearly 7,000 Russian servicemen have been killed. A Russian military convoy has been stuck near Kyiv for days amid fierce resistance. 

Russian paratroopers landed in the second-largest city Kharkiv on Wednesday as troops besieged Kherson in southern Ukraine. 

Ukrainian military officials put the Russian toll much higher at 7,000 and hundreds taken prisoner, according to a military advisor to President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The strategic southern port city of Mariupol is under heavy shelling. The Black Sea city of Kherson is surrounded.

US President Joe Biden branded Russian President Vladimir Putin a “dictator” in his State of the Union address Tuesday. “Putin is now isolated from the world,” he added.

Russia stepped up its bombing campaign Tuesday, hitting Kyiv’s main television tower, two residential buildings in a town north west of the city, and local government headquarters in Kharkiv.

More than 830,000 people have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion, the UN’s refugee agency says, with the number rising sharply.

The UN’s International Court of Justice says it will hold public hearings on March 7 and 8 over Ukraine’s allegations of “genocide” by Russia.