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On the 13th day of Russia's invasion of Ukraine Tuesday, Russian forces were encircling several key cities as the international community pressed to allow the evacuation of civilians from besieged centres.
Kyiv remains under Ukrainian control but at increasing risk of itself being encircled, with observers fearing Russia could step up the intensity of attacks in the next days.
Here is a summary of the situation on the ground, based on statements from both sides, Western defence and intelligence sources and international organisations.
- The east -
Kharkiv remains in Ukrainian hands despite increasingly intense Russian bombardment and the city is likely now surrounded, according to Western sources.
Russian forces are also pressing an offensive through the Russian-backed separatist Donetsk and Lugansk regions although how far they have penetrated remains unclear.
There has been heavy fighting around the city of Sumy in northeast Ukraine. Civilians began to be evacuated through a humanitarian corridor after 21 people, including two children, were killed in Sumy overnight.
- Kyiv and the north -
Kyiv remains under Ukrainian control, despite heavy bombardments, although Western observers point to a major Russian column of hundreds of vehicles outside the city.
Russian forces appear to be attempting to complete an encirclement of the city by moving towards its southern outskirts.
Civilians on foot took an unofficial escape route out of the bombarded Kyiv suburb of Irpin northwest of the centre.
Ukrainian forces also retain control of the northern town of Chernigiv, which has seen heavy civilian casualties in recent days and appears to be encircled.
- The south -
Russia has besieged the strategic southern city of Mariupol and attempts to evacuate an estimated 200,000 civilians from the city have so far failed.
Taking the city would allow Russia to link forces, pushing north from the annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea with their forces from the east.
The famed port city Odessa remains under Ukrainian control and has so far been spared fighting. But Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was aware of intelligence that Russia planned to bomb the city.
Russian forces last week took the southern city of Kherson, just north of Crimea, and there is now heavy fighting for control of the city of Mykolayiv to the northwest.
- The west and centre -
The west of Ukraine remains largely spared from the fighting. The main western city of Lviv has become a hub for foreign diplomatic missions, journalists and Ukrainians seeking safety or wanting to leave the country.
Zelensky said Sunday the civilian airport in the central city of Vinnytsia was destroyed by Russian rockets. Rescue services said five civilians and four soldiers were killed.
- Casualties -
The United Nations said Tuesday it had recorded 474 civilian deaths in Ukraine, including 29 children, although the true toll could be far higher.
Ukraine and Western sources claim that the Russian death toll is far than Moscow has so far admitted to.
Ukraine says more than 12,000 Russian soldiers have been killed while the US Defense Department says it estimates between 2,000 and 4,000 Russian soldiers have died.
Russia's only official toll, announced last Wednesday, said 498 Russian troops had been killed in Ukraine.
- Refugees -
Over 2 million refugees have fled Ukraine since the invasion, more than half going to Poland, according to the UN refugee agency.
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