As a first round of peace talks concluded at the Ukraine-Belarus border on Monday, Ukrainian cities including Kharkiv in the east were continuing to face some of the heaviest shelling of the war thus far, with reports of significant civilian casualties.
The latest: A Russian convoy stretching over 17 miles — comprised of hundreds of armored vehicles, tanks, towed artillery and logistics support vehicles — continues to move toward Kyiv from the north, according to satellite imagery from Maxar.
- A senior U.S. defense official said the Russia's goal continues to be to "encircle Kyiv from multiple locations," and to capture the cities of Kharkiv and Mariupol to isolate eastern Ukraine.
- As peace talks were just beginning, Ukraine's Interior Ministry said dozens of civilians had been killed and hundreds wounded by indiscriminate shelling in Kharkiv, a city of 1.4 million on the border with Russia.
- Journalists in the Ukrainian capital are reporting missile fire and loud explosions, with repeated air raid sirens urging civilians to shelter over the past several hours.
State of play: A senior U.S. defense official told reporters that Russian forces advanced toward Kyiv by around 5 kilometers in the past 24 hours, putting them roughly 25 kilometers outside the city center. ...
- Russia has deployed nearly 75% of its assembled combat power inside Ukraine, and has launched approximately 380 missiles so far, the official said.
- Five days into the war, Russia has still not achieved air superiority over Ukraine, with its ground forces "running out of gas and having logistics problems,"