A military truck and tank are seen on a street of Kherson. Reuters

Gulf Today Report

Russian troops have seized Kherson, the first major Ukrainian city to fall in a devastating week-old war that has already created one million refugees.

The capture of the Black Sea city of 290,000 people, which just last year hosted NATO-supported war games, appeared to be a significant boost for Moscow as it readied for potential ceasefire talks on Thursday.

Russian "occupiers" were in "all parts" of Kherson, Ukrainian regional official Gennady Lakhuta conceded late on Wednesday.

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After a three-day siege that left Kherson short of food and medicine, and struggling to collect and bury its dead, the town's mayor also announced he was in talks with "armed guests."

He had "made no promises" to the invading forces, but agreed to a night curfew and restrictions on car traffic.

"So far so good. The flag flying above us is Ukrainian. And for it to stay that way, these requirements must be met," he said in a Facebook post.

A firefighter walks among rubble in a building entrance in Kharkiv on Wednesday. AFP

Kherson Mayor Igor Kolykhayev said late on Wednesday that Russian troops were in the streets and had entered the council building. He called on civilians to walk through the streets only in daylight and in ones and twos.

"There were armed visitors in the city executive committee today," he said in a statement. "I didn't make any promises to them ... I just asked them not to shoot people."

Scattered debris on a street after shelling by Russian forces of Constitution Square in Kharkiv . AFP

The US State Department called on Putin and the Russian government to "immediately cease this bloodshed" and withdraw forces from Ukraine. It also accused Moscow of launching a "full war on media freedom and the truth" by blocking independent news outlets and social media to prevent Russians from hearing news of the invasion of Ukraine.

Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a "special operation" that is not designed to occupy territory but to destroy its neighbour's military capabilities and capture what it regards as dangerous nationalists.

It denies targeting civilians although there have been widespread reports of civilian casualties and the shelling of residential areas.

Bombing in Kharkiv, a city of 1.5 million people, has left its centre a wasteland of ruined buildings and debris.