MOSCOW: According to a high official in Moscow, Russia's armed troops have taken control of the city of Izyum in Ukraine's Kharkov area.

Russian forces also hit 60 Ukrainian military facilities over the past day, including two command posts, two multiple launch rocket systems, four ammunition depots, and 47 sites with equipment and military hardware, according to Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov, source said.

Meanwhile, the city of Odessa, Ukraine's southern Black Sea port city, was shelled by Russian warships on Thursday, according to a spokeswoman for the Regional Military Administration. The blows were intended to impose "psychological pressure" on Odessa citizens, according to Bratchuk, who did not say whether any people were injured in the event.

Earlier in the day, the Ukrainian Naval Forces' news department announced on Facebook that the military had damaged the Russian forces' Orsk big landing ship near Berdyansk in the southeast.

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