Russia’s 40-mile convoy of military vehicles appeared to be preparing Friday for a long-feared assault on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, as airstrikes continued to batter civilians in numerous other cities — including patients in yet another hospital.
New satellite images revealed that the long-stalled column of vehicles, tanks and artillery had started to regroup and fan out into towns and forests in an attempt to further encircle Ukraine’s seat of power, where the president, Volodymyr Zelensky, defiantly remains.
Ominously, some of the images from Maxar Technologies showed artillery pieces already raised and ready for firing.
Britain’s Ministry of Defense confirmed Friday that intelligence suggested Russian forces were preparing to move in on Kyiv “in the coming days” after frustrations over “limited progress” due to logistical mishaps and fierce Ukrainian resistance.
A member of the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces trains to throw Molotov cocktails to defend the city, in Kyiv. REUTERS/Mykola Tymchenko“Russia is likely seeking to reset and re-posture its forces for renewed offensive activity in the coming days,” the ministry warned in an intelligence update. “This will probably include operations against the capital Kyiv.”
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko also warned on Telegram Friday that “the capital is under threat of invasion.”
On Thursday, the former heavyweight boxing champ revealed that about 2 million people — about half the metropolitan area’s population — had fled the city, with the rest remaining behind to prepare for urban combat.
More than 2.5 million people have already fled Ukraine, according to the UN. EPA/ROMAN PILIPEY“Every street, every house … is being fortified,” Klitschko said. “Even people who in their lives never intended to change their clothes, now they are in uniform with machine guns in their hands.”
Russia’s latest military moves came as Ukraine claimed more civilians have been killed than soldiers.
Some of the satellite images show artillery pieces already raised and ready for firing. Maxar Technologies/Handout via REUTERSThe United Nations human rights agency said that as of Wednesday, it had confirmed at least 549 civilian deaths — including 41 children — while acknowledging the “actual toll is much higher.”
More deaths were reported Friday as Russia continued its barrage of airstrikes, including against cities that had been largely untouched by previous bombings — sending a message to Ukrainians that nowhere is safe.
Just days after blowing up a maternity hospital in the southern city of Mariupol, Russian forces on Friday took aim at a psychiatric hospital near the eastern town of Izyum.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has defiantly remained in Kyiv. Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP“This is a war crime against civilians, genocide against the Ukrainian nation,” Gov. Oleh Synegubov wrote on Telegram, calling it “a brutal attack on civilians.”
Around 330 people had been at the hospital at the time, some of them confined to wheelchairs or unable to move, Synegubov said. Nearly 80 were eventually evacuated.
Emergency services later said no one appeared to have been hurt because patients were already sheltering in the basement.
Britain’s Ministry of Defense confirmed Friday that intelligence suggested Russian forces were preparing to move in on Kyiv “in the coming days.”Synegubov said separately that Russian forces had shelled residential areas of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, 89 times in one day.
Moscow had no immediate comment on the strike, but has repeatedly denied targeting civilians despite overwhelming evidence.
Wednesday’s blast on the Mariupol maternity hospital killed three people — including a young girl — and injured 17 others.
Ukrainian soldiers on an armored personnel carrier pass by people carrying their belongings as they flee the conflict, in the Vyshgorod region close to Kyiv. AP Photo/Efrem LukatskyHowever, Russia’s embassy in London claimed the victims had been neo-Nazi radicals, and the bloodied pregnant women seen fleeing were actors.
On Friday, airstrikes also hit the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, killing at least one person, state emergency services said. A kindergarten and an apartment building were among the locations in the blast zone.
Strikes on the airfield in the northwestern city of Lutsk killed two Ukrainian servicemen and wounded six people, according to the head of the regional administration, Yuriy Pohulyayko. In the southwest, residents of Ivano-Frankivsk were ordered to shelters after an air raid alert, Mayor Ruslan Martsinkiv said.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov claimed Friday that Moscow had used high-precision, long-range weapons to put military airfields in Lutsk and Ivano-Frankivsk “out of action.” He did not provide details.
By Friday, the UN had reported 2,504,893 people as having already fled Ukraine, with more than 1.5 million heading to western neighbor Poland. Millions more have been displaced from homes while remaining in Ukraine.
With Post wires
