Russia says it has captured Ukraine's Melitopol, Britain denies claim

Russian troops have captured the city of Melitopol in Ukraine's southeastern Zaporizhzhya region, Russia's defence ministry said on Saturday, the first significant population centre to be taken over since Moscow launched an invasion.

The ministry also said Russia had used air- and ship-based cruise missiles to carry out overnight strikes on military targets in Ukraine.

It said Russian troops had hit hundreds of military infrastructure targets and destroyed several aircraft and dozens of tanks and armoured and artillery vehicles.

Ukrainian officials could not be immediately reached for comment on the matter.

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However, British armed forces minister James Heappey on Saturday said Russian forces have not captured the southeastern Ukrainian city of Melitopol and armoured columns advancing on the capital Kyiv have been held up by Ukrainian resistance.

Heappey said it was the British assessment that Russia had so far failed to capture any of its Day one targets for its invasion of Ukraine, which began on Thursday.

"Even Melitopol, which the Russians are claiming to have taken but we can't see anything to substantiate that, are all still in Ukrainian hands," Heappey told BBC radio.

"The fighting ... reported on the outskirts of Kyiv overnight, we understand to just be Russian special forces and pockets of paratroopers," he said.

"The reality is that the armoured columns that were coming down from Belarus and the north that were going to encircle Kyiv are still some way north because they've been held up by this incredible Ukrainian resistance," the minister said.

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