Terrified families in Kyiv have been stocking up on food as fears grow that Vladimir Putin’s invading forces are about to lay siege to the Ukrainian capital.
Queues outside supermarkets and at shop checkouts stretched for hours as Kyiv residents panic-buy essential groceries including bread after the temporary end of a curfew, as a 40-mile convoy of Russian tanks and other vehicles threatens the city.
The old and young alike, who waited patiently to get inside the decreasing number of grocery stores and supermarkets still open, were pictured standing beneath a building in the capital with a huge hole blown in its side after five days of brutal fighting.
With the Kremlin increasingly isolated by tough economic sanctions that have tanked the rouble currency, Russian troops attempted to advance on Ukraine’s two biggest cities. In strategic Kharkiv, an eastern city with a population of about 1.5million, videos posted online showed explosions hitting the region’s Soviet-era administrative building and residential areas.
Ukraine’s embattled president Volodymyr Zelensky claimed Russia’s suspected siege tactics were designed to force him into concessions in Europe’s largest ground war in generations.
In a video address late on Monday, he said: ‘I believe Russia is trying to put pressure [on Ukraine] with this simple method.’
He did not offer details of the talks between Ukrainian and Russian envoys, but he said Kyiv was not prepared to make concessions ‘when one side is hitting another with rocket artillery’.
Throughout the war-torn European country, many Ukrainian civilians spent another night huddled in shelters, basements or corridors.
The casualty toll mounted as Ukraine faced Day 6 of a Russian invasion that has shaken the world order. Hopes for a negotiated solution to the war dimmed after a first, five-hour session of talks between Ukraine and Russia yielded no stop in the fighting, though both sides agreed to another meeting in coming days.
With Western powers sending weapons to Ukraine and driving a global squeeze of Russia’s economy, Putin’s options diminished as he seeks to redraw the global map and pull Ukraine’s western-leaning democracy back into Moscow’s orbit.
Empty shelves in Kyiv grocery stores following a curfew and ahead of a suspected Russian siege, February 28, 2022
Terrified locals are seen stocking up on essential supplies as the Russian war in Ukraine rages on, February 28, 2022
Supermarket shelves in Kyiv looked bare as residents of the capital prepare for a potential siege, February 28, 2022
A woman looks at empty shelves of bread after the curfew was lifted, in Kyiv, Ukraine, February 28, 2022
People wait in a queue outside a supermarket in central Kyiv, Ukraine, February 28, 2022
The old and young alike waited patiently to get inside the decreasing number of supermarkets still open, February 28, 2022
People queueing outside a supermarket in in Kyiv, Ukraine, February 28, 2022
People line up in long queues to obtain necessary goods outside a supermarket Kyiv, Ukraine, February 28, 2022
People line up in long queues to buy food outside a supermarket in Kyiv, Ukraine, February 28, 2022
People wait in a line with groceries at the supermarket on February 28, 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine
People shop in the supermarket on February 28, 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine
People shop in the supermarket on February 28, 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine
People wait in a line with groceries at the supermarket on February 28, 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine
Customers pay for groceries at the supermarket on February 28, 2022 in Kyiv
Local residents queue up outside a supermarket as most supermarkets are closed, February 28, 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine
A convoy of Russian tanks, artillery pieces, fighting vehicles and support trucks now stretches all the way from Hostomel, on the outskirts of Kyiv, to the village of Prybirs’k some 40 miles away (part of the convoy is seen, right)
There are fears the purpose of the convoy (pictured) is to surround Kyiv, besiege it and bomb it into submission – mirroring tactics Russia used in Syria while fighting alongside the forces of Basahar al-Assad
A line of Russian vehicles is seen snaking its way via the town of Ivankiv towards Kyiv, around 40 miles to the south
Kyiv endured another night of bombing on Monday before satellite images revealed the huge column of tanks headed for the city, with Putin’s men trying to cut off the capital and bomb it into submission
Putin’s 40-mile death convoy descends on Kyiv: Line of artillery as far as the eye can see heads towards Ukrainian capital amid fears Russia will ‘use medieval tactics’ to bomb the city into submission as supermarket shelves run empty
As Kyiv prepares for a dramatic escalation in bloodshed, Kherson, Kharkiv and Mariupol all came under shelling attack by Russian forces as Putin looks to achieve victory by brute forces after more-sophisticated tactics failed
Kyiv is today bracing for dramatic escalation in bloodshed as terrifying satellite images revealed a column of Russian tanks and artillery almost 40 miles long snaking towards the Ukrainian capital – seemingly with the aim of surrounding and besieging it.
The convoy is made up of hundreds of tanks, artillery pieces, attack vehicles and support trucks that stretches all the way from Hostomel – around 15 miles from central Kyiv – to the village of Prybirs’k – some 40 miles away – mobilised with the intention of bombing the capital into submission.
Observers warn that Putin’s invasion of his ex-Soviet is about to enter a brutal new phase, abandoning precision strikes against key infrastructure and military bases that met with crushing defeats in the early days of the war and instead resorting to ‘medieval tactics’ to try and force a bloody victory.
It mirrors the tactics that Russia’s military used against rebel forces in Syria while fighting alongside dictator Bashar al-Assad, where cities were surrounded and ordered to surrender before Putin’s men launched indiscriminate bombing campaigns that killed thousands of civilians and levelled entire neighbourhoods.
The city of Mariupol, in Ukraine’s south, said early Tuesday that bombardment had already started – with the mayor saying it is under ‘constant shelling’ by Russian forces using artillery, Grad rockets, and fighter jets targeting civilians areas such as schools and homes which had left many dead, including women and children.
Power to the city, which is in danger of being surrounded by Russian forces, has been cut – region head Pavlo Kyrylenko said Tuesday – but it remains under Ukrainian control.
Kherson, another key city located in southern Ukraine with a bridge over the Dnieper River, also came under bombardment by Russian forces today as missiles landed near civilian buildings on the outskirts and troops were pictured moving through the streets.
Kharkiv, in the east, continued to be under bombardment today with a large rocket landing in front of the civilian public administration building, leaving the interior heavily damaged. It came just a day after Kharkiv was hit by cluster bombs that landed near a shopping centre, killing at least 11 people and leaving dozens more wounded.
As the talks along the Belarusian border wrapped up, several blasts could be heard in the capital, and Russian troops advanced on the city of nearly 3million. The convoy of armoured vehicles, tanks, artillery and support vehicles was 17 miles from the centre of the city and stretched about 40 miles, according to satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies.
‘They want to break our nationhood, that’s why the capital is constantly under threat,’ Zelensky said, saying that it was hit by three missile strikes on Monday and that hundreds of saboteurs were roaming the city.
Messages aimed at the advancing Russian soldiers popped up on billboards, bus stops and electronic traffic signs across the capital. Some used profanity to encourage Russians to leave. Others appealed to their humanity.
Kharkiv, near the Russian border, is another key target. One after the other, explosions burst through a residential area of the city in one video verified by AP. In the background, a man pleaded with a woman to leave, and a woman cried.
Determined for life to go on despite the shelling, hospital workers transferred a Kharkiv maternity ward to a bomb shelter.
Amid makeshift electrical sockets and mattresses piled up against the walls, pregnant women paced the crowded space, accompanied by the cries of dozens of newborns.
Customers pay for groceries at the supermarket on February 28, 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine
People wait in a line with groceries at the supermarket on February 28, 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine
People leave the supermarket with groceries on February 28, 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine
People wait in a line with groceries at the supermarket on February 28, 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine
People walking out of a supermarket on February 28, 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine ahead of a suspected Russian siege
People walk out of the supermarket on February 28, 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine ahead of a suspected Russian siege
A woman reacts to sirens sound announcing new attacks, outside a supermarket in central Kyiv, February 28, 2022
People line up in long queues to obtain necessary goods outside supermarkets after a curfew was temporarily lifted amid Russian attacks in Kyiv, Ukraine on February 28, 2022
People line up in long queues to obtain necessary goods outside supermarkets in Kyiv, Ukraine on February 28, 2022
People queueing outside a supermarket after a curfew was temporarily lifted in Kyiv, Ukraine on February 28, 2022
People line up in long queues to buy food outside a supermarket in Kyiv, Ukraine on February 28, 2022
People line up in long queues to buy food outside a supermarket in Kyiv, Ukraine on February 28, 2022
Terrified families in Kyiv have been stocking up on food as fears grow that Vladimir Putin’s forces are about to lay siege to the Ukrainian capital. Pictured outside a supermarket in Kyiv on February 28, 2022
Russian vehicles are seen to the southeast of Invankiv and heading towards Kyiv in this satellite image taken on Monday
A handout satellite image made available by Maxar Technologies shows part of a military convoy and burning buildings, northwest of Ivankiv
The Russian military has denied targeting residential areas despite abundant evidence documented by AP reporters around Ukraine of shelling of homes, schools and hospitals.
Video from Kharkiv showed residential areas being shelled, with apartment buildings shaken by repeated, powerful blasts.
Authorities in Kharkiv said at least seven people had been killed and dozens injured. They warned that casualties could be far higher.
‘They wanted to have a blitzkrieg, but it failed, so they act this way,’ said 83-year-old Valentin Petrovich, who watched the shelling from his downtown apartment. He gave just his first name and his patronymic, a middle name derived from his father’s name, out of fear for his safety.
Fighting raged in other towns and cities. The strategic port city of Mariupol, on the Sea of Azov, is ‘hanging on’, said Zelensky adviser Oleksiy Arestovich. An oil depot was reported bombed in the eastern city of Sumy.
Russian artillery hit a military base in Okhtyrka, a city between Kharkiv and Kyiv, and more than 70 Ukrainian soldiers were killed, the head of the region wrote on Telegram. Dmytro Zhyvytskyy posted photographs of the charred shell of a four-story building and rescuers searching rubble.
In a later Facebook post, he said many Russian soldiers and some local residents also were killed during the fighting on Sunday. The report could not immediately be confirmed.
Despite its superior military strength, Russia still lacked control of Ukrainian airspace. This may help explain how Ukraine has so far prevented a rout.
In the seaside resort town of Berdyansk, dozens of protesters chanted angrily in the main square against Russian occupiers, yelling at them to go home and singing the Ukrainian national anthem. They described the soldiers as exhausted young conscripts.
‘Frightened kids, frightened looks. They want to eat,’ Konstantin Maloletka, who runs a small shop, said by telephone. He said the soldiers went into a supermarket and grabbed canned meat, vodka and cigarettes.
‘They ate right in the store,’ he said. ‘It looked like they haven’t been fed in recent days.’
For many, Russia’s announcement of a nuclear high alert stirred fears that the West could be drawn into direct conflict with Russia. But a senior US defence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States had yet to see any appreciable change in Russia’s nuclear posture.
As far-reaching Western sanctions on Russian banks and other institutions took hold, the ruble plummeted, and Russia’s Central Bank scrambled to shore it up, as did Putin, signing a decree restricting foreign currency.
But that did little to calm Russian fears. In Moscow, people lined up to withdraw cash as the sanctions threatened to drive up prices and reduce the standard of living for millions of ordinary Russians.
In yet another blow to Russia’s economy, oil giant Shell said it was pulling out of the country because of the invasion. It announced it will withdraw from its joint ventures with state-owned gas company Gazprom and other entities and end its involvement in the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project between Russia and Europe.
The economic sanctions, ordered by the US and other allies, were just one contributor to Russia’s growing status as a pariah country.
Russian airliners are banned from European airspace, Russian media is restricted in some countries, and some high-tech products can no longer be exported to the country. On Monday, in a major blow to a soccer-mad nation, Russian teams were suspended from all international soccer.
The UN human rights chief said at least 102 civilians have been killed and hundreds wounded – warning that figure is probably a vast undercount – and Ukraine’s president said at least 16 children were among the dead.
More than 500,000 people have fled the country since the invasion, another UN official said, many of them going to Poland, Romania and Hungary.
Among the refugees in Hungary was Maria Pavlushko, 24, an information technology project manager from a city west of Kyiv. She said her father stayed behind to fight the Russians.
‘I am proud about him,’ she said, adding that many of her friends were planning to fight, too.
