Ukrainian army says immediate clashes have broken out on the streets of Ukraine’s second city after landing of Russian paratroopers.

The Ukrainian military says immediate clashes have erupted after Russian paratroopers landed in Ukraine’s second largest city of Kharkiv on the seventh day of Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour.

“Russian airborne troops landed in Kharkiv … and attacked a local hospital,” the army said on Wednesday, in a statement on the Telegram messaging app. “There is an ongoing fight between the invaders and the Ukrainians.” According to Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister, a fire broke out on Wednesday in the barracks of a flight school in the city following an air raid. “Practically there are no areas left in Kharkiv where an artillery shell has not yet hit,” he said in a statement posted on Telegram.

The city’s governor, Oleg Synegubov, also said on Telegram that seven people were killed in an attack on a government building and that 24 people were wounded. The reports could be independently confirmed. Russia says it is only targeting Ukraine’s military infrastructure, air defence and air forces with high-precision weapons.

Russia claims control of southern Ukrainian city of Kherson

Defence ministry says talks are under way between Russian army and local authorities on maintaining order. The Russian army has claimed it has taken control of the strategically important city of Kherson in southern Ukraine as Moscow’s invasion of the country entered its seventh day. “The Russian divisions of the armed forces have taken the regional centre of Kherson under full control,” defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in televised remarks on Wednesday.

He claimed that public services and transport were operating as usual. “The city is not experiencing shortages of food and essential goods,” he said. He added that talks were under way between the Russian army and local authorities on maintaining order, protecting the population and keeping public services functioning.

Kherson’s Mayor Igor Nikolayev, however, said in a post on Facebook: “We are still Ukraine. Still firm.”

Apparently contradicting the Russian army’s claims, he said he needed to find a way to “collect the [bodies of the] dead” and “restore electricity, gas, water and heating where they are damaged”. “But I warn you right away: To complete these tasks today means to perform a miracle,” he added.

A Russian invasion of Ukraine could happen at any moment, a defence minister has warned.

Armed Forces Minister James Heappey has described the massing of roughly 130,000 Russian troops along the Ukrainian border as a "credible force set to do something imminently".  It comes after Defence Secretary Ben Wallace compared diplomatic efforts to prevent a Russian invasion of Ukraine to appeasement as he said it is "highly likely" Vladimir Putin will order an attack despite the concerted talks to avert war.