Kherson mayor Igor Kolykhaev has recently said that Russian troops are on their way to capture the port city while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office said that the fighting is still underway.

According to Russian officials, Kherson is in their “complete control”. Mayor Igor Kolykhaev said Russian soldiers were in the city and came to the city administration building.

Also read: Why is Belarus a key player in the Russia-Ukraine conflict?

He further said he asked them not to shoot civilians and to allow them to gather up the bodies from the streets, news agencies Reuters and AP reported.

“I simply asked them not to shoot at people,” mayor Igor Kolykhaev said in a statement. “We don’t have any Ukrainian forces in the city, only civilians and people here who want to live,” he added.

Also read: Russians start feeling the heat of sanctions imposed by the West over Ukraine invasion

Kherson, a city of 300,000, is strategically located on the banks of the Dnieper River near where it flows into the Black Sea. If Russian troops take the city, they could unblock a water canal and restore water supplies to the Crimean Peninsula.

The Kherson region battle began on last Thursday, the first day of the invasion, and by the next day, the Russian forces were able to take a bridge that connects the city with the territory on the western bank.

Also read: Yevhen Malyshev, 19-year-old Ukrainian biathlete, dies while fighting Russian invasion

Russia said it would press forward with its military advances in Ukraine. Its assault on the country’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, continued on Wednesday with its mayor stating residential areas were being bombed. 

Four more persons were killed and nine others were injured in shelling during the day, the emergency services said.

Also read: Russia-Ukraine conflict: A brief history

Russia’s week-long invasion was denounced by the United Nations in a historic vote and dozens of countries referred Moscow to be probed for potential war crimes.