People in cities and towns across Ukraine were woken by air raid sirens this morning, urging them to find shelter as dawn broke. It comes as a huge convoy of military vehicles - now estimated to be 40 miles long - rolls towards the capital, Kyiv.
There were also reports that a maternity hospital in village of Buzova, on the Zhytomyr highway where heavy fighting has been ongoing, had to be evacuated this morning after it was hit by Russian shelling.
More than 520,000 people are now said to have now fled Ukraine as refugees, with Vladimir Putin being accused of "war crimes", after residential areas in the city of Kharkiv were bombed by his regime. It follows reports that weapons banned under the Geneva convention - including cluster bombs and thermobaric 'vacuum' warheads - have been used by Russia.
"No one in the world will forgive you for killing peaceful Ukrainian people," said Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, in an address late last night.
However, Kyiv’s outgunned but determined troops slowed Russia’s advance and held onto the capital and other key cities — for one more night at least. US officials say they believe the invasion has been more difficult than the Kremlin envisioned, though that could change as Moscow adapts - and adopts even more brutal tactics.
Russia still lacks control of Ukrainian airspace - but a wave of air raid sirens were sounded in a number of cities this morning, with residents urged to take shelter. Hundreds of thousands of civilians have sought safety at night in Kyiv’s subway system and other makeshift shelters around the country, where parents try to calm their children’s fears.
The UN's High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, said that there are now "520,000 refugees from Ukraine in neighbouring countries".
"This figure has been rising exponentially, hour after hour, literally since Thursday. I have worked in refugee crises for almost 40 years and I have rarely seen such an incredibly fast exodus of people."
The UN is planning for up to four million refugees in the coming weeks if the conflict doesn’t end, he said. “We know that we are not even scratching the surface to meet the needs of Ukrainians,” he told an emergency Security Council meeting.
UK Home Secretary Priti Patel, who has come under intense political pressure from MPs across the Commons to do more to allow Ukrainian refugees to reach the UK, said she was following the “strongest security advice” as she rejected the call to scrap the need for visas.
But the huge Russian military convoy threatening Kyiv is far bigger than initially thought - with satellite images showing it occupying much of a 40 mile stretch of road north of the Ukrainian capital. It was earlier believed to be 17 miles long, but additional satellite imagery showed it stretching for 40 miles. Maxar said the newer images cover a wider area and were less obscured by clouds. Several homes and other buildings were seen burning near roads where the convoy is traveling.
More than 70 Ukrainian soldiers were killed after Russian artillery hit a military base in Okhtyrka, a city between Kharkiv and Kyiv, according to a post by the head of the region Dmytro Zhyvytsky on Telegram. And explosions and gunfire were heard in embattled cities in eastern Ukraine as Russia’s invasion met unexpectedly stiff resistance.
In other news, Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky is being hunted by Russian president Vladmir Putin’s private band of militia, who plan to kill him within days, according to reports.
The organisation, known as the Wagner Group, is thought they have a list of 23 targets, that includes Ukraine’s prime minister as well as the entire cabinet, mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko and his brother Wladimir – both of whom are boxing champions who have become iconic figures on the front lines.
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