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 a significant boost for Moscow as it readied for potential ceasefire talks on March 3.

Russian “occupiers” were in “all parts” of Kherson, Ukrainian regional official Gennady Lakhuta conceded late on March 2.

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 Russian 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.

Stalled elsewhere, Russia continues to make significant advances on the southern front, with troops breaking through in Kherson – opening the path west and north – and besieging the larger strategically vital port city of Mariupol.

There, mayor Vadym Boychenko reported hours of punishing bombardments that trapped civilians in a city now without light, water or heating as temperatures hover around freezing.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video statement: “We will restore every house, every street, every city and we say to Russia: learn the word ‘reparations’.

“You will reimburse us for everything you did against our state, against every Ukrainian, in full,” he said.