KYIV, Feb 24 (Independent) - Ukraine death toll hits 137 with 316 wounded as Russian assault intensifiesKYIV, Ukraine — President Volodymyr Zelensky says137 Ukrainians died Thursday after his country came under a large-scale attack from Russian forces.

“Today we have lost 137 of our heroes, our citizens. Military and civilian,” Zelensky says in a video address, adding that another 316 people had been injured.Ukraine’s president said on Thursday night that 137 people had been killed, and 316 wounded so far, after Russia launched a full scale invasion on his country by land, sea and air.

The current death toll includes both Ukrainian soldiers and civilians, according to Volodymyr Zelensky.

As night fell for the first time since Vladimir Putin initiated the all-out assault, heavy exchanges of fire were taking place the regions of Sumy and Kharkiv in the northeast, and Kherson and Odessa in the south, while Kiev said heavy Russian shelling was still underway in the eastern Donetsk region.

Moscow’s defence ministry said ground forces had moved in from annexed Crimea, and claimed to have “neutralised” Ukraine’s air defences and destroyed 11 airfields, with Russian troops also seizing an airbase just 25 miles from the capital’s centre. Ukraine’s airforce is thought to have comprised of roughly 200 aircraft.

Russian forces have also reportedly attempted to take control of Ukraine’s Serpent Island, which lies in the Black Sea less than 30 miles from Nato member Romania, while seizing control of the infamous Chernobyl nuclear power plant – a move the Ukrainian president claimed was “a declaration of war against the whole of Europe”.

Addressing the nation in military uniform, Mr Zelensky suggested the “missile blasts, fighting and the rumble of aircraft” in his country were “the sound of a new iron curtain, which has come down and is closing Russia off from the civilised world”.

“Our national task is to make sure this curtain does not fall across our land,” the president said.

Mr Zelensky moved on Thursday to declare martial law, meaning the military will temporarily take control of Ukraine, and severed all diplomatic ties with Russia. Hours prior to Mr Putin’s invasion, Kiev’s parliament approved a law allowing citizens to bear firearms, while Mr Zelensky called up reservists to the country’s army.

Ukrainian health minister Viktor Lyashko said authorities were repurposing the country’s healthcare facilities to make room for those wounded in the hostilities.