Associated Press journalists around Ukraine and beyond are documenting military activity during Russia’s invasion. With disinformation rife and social media amplifying military claims and counterclaims, determining exactly what is happening can be difficult. Here’s a look at what could be confirmed Wednesday as Russia’s military assault on Ukraine was in its seventh day.

DIRECTLY WITNESSED

— Three boys wounded by apparent Russian shelling while they were playing Wednesday were rushed into a regional hospital in the besieged port city of Mariupol. One of the boys had lost his legs, and died soon after arrival, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene. The other two were rushed into surgery and then intensive care. The boys, all born in 2006, had been playing soccer and hanging out near a school when the shelling hit, family members told The AP. A woman with severe wounds to her face from the same strike was also brought to the hospital.

— Videos circulated online of an apparent attack Wednesday on the regional police and intelligence headquarters in Kharkiv, showing a building with its roof blown off and its top floor on fire. The Ukrainian state emergency service confirmed the attack and said residential buildings were also hit. It said four people died, nine were wounded and rescuers pulled 10 people out of the rubble. Kharkiv resident Marina Boreiko told the AP she heard children crying and saw bodies in rubble from one of the strikes in the city.

— Powerful blasts could be heard Tuesday night in central Kyiv. People on the ground reported car alarms were set off by the blasts, a first in the central part of the capital city where Russian forces are encroaching.

ANNOUNCED BY UKRAINIAN AUTHORITIES

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— An adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed Wednesday evening several Russian planes were shot down over Kharkiv. The adviser said the advance of Russian troops in the city has been stopped, but the Russians in response shelled resistance with rocket launchers and air attacks. Oleksiy Arestovich said, “Kharkiv today is the Stalingrad of the 21st century.” A Kharkiv official said 21 people have been killed and at least 112 wounded over the past 24 hours.

— Ukrainian UNIAN news agency quoted the health administration chief of the northern city of Chernihiv as saying Wednesday two cruise missiles hit a hospital there. The hospital’s main building suffered damage, Serhiy Pivovar said, and authorities were working to determine the casualty toll.

— Ukrainian police said Wednesday they arrested a man who brought explosives hidden in a children’s toy to one of the Kyiv subway stations where thousands of people have been sheltering. The police also said four other suspected saboteurs were arrested, including two who were carrying weapons.

— The mayor of Irpin, located about 25 kilometers (15 miles) west of Kyiv, said a rocket hit a multi-story residential building Wednesday morning.

— An advisor to Zelenskyy’s office told reporters Wednesday there is no evidence that Belarusian forces are also involved in the fighting, but said “there are signals.” Belarussian troops were concentrated close to the countries’ border early Wednesday, officials said.

— Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said Wednesday more than 2,000 civilians have died, though it was impossible to verify that claim.

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ANNOUNCED BY RUSSIAN AUTHORITIES

— Vladimir Medinsky, Russia President Vladimir Putin’s aide and head of the Russian delegation, told reporters Wednesday evening the Ukrainians are expected to arrive to Belarus for talks Thursday. He said the two sides agreed to meet in the Brest region of Belarus, which borders Poland. Zelenskyy’s office confirmed to the AP the delegation is on its way, but gave no details on the time of the arrival.

— A spokesman of the Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday in the country’s first report of deaths that 498 Russian troops have been killed in Ukraine and 1,597 more sustained wounds. Ukrainian officials have estimated a much higher death toll. Neither countries’ claims could be corroborated.

Zelenskyy previously claimed almost 6,000 Russian soldiers have been killed since the invasion began last Thursday.

— Moscow made new threats of escalation, days after raising the specter of nuclear war. A top Kremlin official warned that the West’s “economic war” against Russia could turn into a “real one.”

— Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Wednesday Russian forces have seized the southern city of Kherson. The UK’s defense ministry corroborated the claim, but the city mayor denied Wednesday that Russia had taken full control.

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— Konashenkov claimed that the airstrike Tuesday on a TV tower in the capital of Kyiv did not hit any residential buildings. Konashenkov did not address allegations that the strike damaged the neighboring Babi Yar memorial to Kyiv’s Holocaust victims. Ukraine’s State Service for Emergency Situations said the strikes killed five people and left five more wounded.

ANNOUNCED BY OFFICIALS ELSEWHERE

— The United Nations Refugee Agency reported Wednesday evening more than 874,000 refugees have fled Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict.

— The spokesman for the French Ministry of Armed Forces, Hervé Grandjean, said Wednesday on France Info news a Russian offensive “seems imminent” in Kyiv despite “slower move than what Russian forces had probably anticipated.”

— Russia claimed Wednesday afternoon its military has taken control of the area around Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant. That’s according to the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog.

— The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence said air strikes have continued to target built up areas over the past 24 hours, primarily focused on Kharkiv, Kyiv, Mariupol and Chernihiv.

— Human Rights Watch said it documented a cluster bomb attack outside a hospital in Ukraine’s east in recent days. Residents also reported the use of such weapons in Kharkiv and Kiyanka village. The Kremlin denied using cluster bombs.

— China says one of its citizens was shot and wounded while evacuating from Ukraine. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said the shooting occurred Tuesday while the person was leaving on their own.


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