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The Ukrainian military reported Russian airborne troops have landed in Kharkiv and have been met with fire from local troops after attacking a hospital. 

The city is now awakening after a devastating day of attacks, which saw civilian sites targeted by missiles. Authorities are yet to confirm an official death toll in the city. 

It comes as the nation prepares for another long day of uncertainty, with analysts fearing today could be the beginning of Putin's largest airborne assault on Ukraine. 

Kharkiv Region Police Chief Volodymyr Tymoshko now confirmed that no Ukrainian troops were killed in the battle for the military hospital. 

"Currently the situation near the hospital is under control, security has been strengthened," he said via Sky News. 

Russia has issued a chilling warning for Kyiv residents, ordering them to escape now ahead of a new wave of brutal attacks by "high-precision weapons" on the capital. 

It comes after at least five people were killed after Russian missiles hit Kyiv's TV tower as the invasion of Ukraine escalates. 

It is believed to be part of a deliberate strategy of targeting essential facilities, apparently in a bid to demoralise the Ukrainian people. 

As a result of the strategy, Russia's defence ministry has urged residents living near critical infrastructure to flee their homes for their own safety. 

Since the invasion began, more than 600,000 refugees have fled the nation, according to the UN, with UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi claiming the situation "could become Europe's largest refugee crisis this century". 

Russia's nuclear submarines and mobile missile launchers have carried out drills just days after Putin's chilling revelation that Russia's deterrence forces had been placed on high alert. 

In a statement, Russia's Northern Fleet confirmed several of its nuclear submarines had participated in the exercises in the Barents Sea designed to "train manoeuvring in stormy conditions". 

It also confirmed that warships protecting the Kola Peninsula would join. 

The Associated Press reported that Russia's Strategic Missile Forces also dispersed intercontinental ballistic missile launchers in eastern Siberia to practice covert deployment. 

United States urges caution 

AP reports the US has injected a strong note of caution into the persistent reports that Russian military progress — including by the massive convoy outside Kyiv — has slowed, plagued by food and fuel shortages and logistical problems. 

One senior Defence official said that the US has seen Russian military columns literally run out of gas, and in some places running out of food, and that morale is suffering as a result. 

But the official added that it is important to be pragmatic. The Russians still have a significant amount of combat power that has not yet been tapped, and "they will regroup, they will adjust, they will change their tactics". 

Damaged cars and a destroyed accommodation building are seen near a checkpoint in Brovary, outside Kyiv, Ukraine. Photo / AP 

The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military assessments. Overall, the US assesses that Russia has launched more than 400 missiles into Ukraine, of various types and sizes. 

As of Wednesday (NZT), the Ukrainian air and missile defence systems remain viable and are being used. Also, weapons from the US and others continue to flow into Ukraine. The official said that the aid is getting to the Ukrainian military and troops are "actively using these systems". 

A senior Western intelligence official, who had been briefed by multiple intelligence agencies, estimated that more than 5000 Russian soldiers had been captured or killed so far. 

Russian forces escalate attacks 

The official said Russians have made progress in the south, moving along two routes out of Crimea – one to the northeast and one to the northwest, AP reports. 

It's not clear that Russians have taken control of Kherson, but heavy fighting continues. 

The official said they have not yet advanced into Mariupol, but are close enough to strike into the city with long-range weapons. 

"Nobody will forgive. Nobody will forget," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed after the bloodshed on the square in Kharkiv. 

Closed-circuit television footage showed a fireball engulfing the street in front of the building, with a few cars rolling out of the billowing smoke. An emergency official said the bodies of at least six people had been pulled from the ruins, and at least 20 other people were wounded. 

"You cannot watch this without crying," a witness said in a video of the aftermath, verified by the Associated Press. 

Zelenskyy's office also reported a powerful missile attack on the site of the Babyn Yar Holocaust memorial, near the tower. A spokesman for the memorial said a Jewish cemetery at the site, where Nazi occupiers killed more than 33,000 Jews over two days in 1941, was damaged, but the extent would not be clear until daylight. 

Refugees from Ukraine rest at the railway station in Przemysl, Poland. Photo / AP 

Britain's Ministry of Defence said they had seen an increase in Russian air and artillery strikes on populated urban areas over the past two days. 

Ukraine fighting back 

AP reports Ukraine has effectively asked that Russia be kicked off the internet. 

In a letter sent Monday to the president of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, Ukraine's deputy minister for digital transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, cited the "atrocious crimes" of Russia's invasion, including its alleged breach of the Geneva Conventions in attacking civilian targets. 

Federov said the crimes "have been made possible mainly due to the Russian propaganda machinery" and cited cyberattacks "from the Russian side" that have impeded the ability of Ukrainians and their Government to communicate. 

Federov asked that ICANN revoke, permanently or temporarily, the domains .ru and .su and shut down the root servers in Moscow and St Petersburg that match domain names and numbers. 

"Russian citizens must feel the cost of war," Government spokesman Oleksandr Ryzhenko said Tuesday. 

ICANN had no immediate comment but the regional internet naming authority for Europe and the former Soviet Union, RIPE NCC, rejected the request. 

A senior Western intelligence official, who had been briefed by multiple intelligence agencies, estimated that more than 5000 Russian soldiers had been captured or killed so far. 

A woman takes photos of a destroyed accommodation building near a checkpoint in Brovary, outside Kyiv, Ukraine. Photo / AP 

It comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree that prohibits taking more than $10,000 worth of foreign currency in cash and "monetary instruments" out of Russia. 

The move comes in response to the crippling sanctions Western nations have imposed over its invasion of Ukraine, which this week tanked the ruble and sent Russians flocking to banks and ATMs in fear for the fate of their savings. 

Other measures Putin ordered this week included obligating Russian exporters to sell 80 per cent of their revenues in foreign currency, prohibiting Russian residents from providing non-residents with foreign currency under loan agreements and from depositing foreign currency into foreign bank accounts. 

As a result of the strategy, Russia's defence ministry has urged residents living near critical infrastructure to flee their homes for their own safety. 

Since the invasion began, more than 600,000 refugees have fled the nation, according to the UN, with UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi claiming the situation "could become Europe's largest refugee crisis this century".