Russia intensified its bombing campaign on Ukrainian cities Tuesday, including in Kyiv where President Volodymyr Zelensky said strikes apparently aimed at a TV tower killed at least five civilians — and in Kharkiv, where the central square was struck in what Zelensky called an act of state terrorism.
State of play: The bombardment of civilian areas, as well as the miles-long armored Russian military convoy nearing Kyiv, appear to herald a new, more brutal phase of fighting after six days of stiff Ukrainian resistance.
The latest: Ukrainian authorities said about 8:30pm ET Russian airborne troops had landed and engaged in heavy fighting with Ukrainian forces in Kharkiv, which has been encircled after one of the worst days of civilian shelling during this war.
- A child is among four people killed in a Russian missile strike on their homes near an air base in Zhytomyr, west of Kyiv, said Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to Ukraine's interior minister, on Telegram
- Ukrainian authorities claimed they had foiled an assassination plot against Zelensky by a unit of elite Chechen special forces, in part thanks to tips from members of Russia's Federal Security Service who do not support the war.
- The Russian military launched missiles at Kyiv's TV tower after saying it would strike targets tied to "information attacks" from Ukraine's security services, temporarily taking TV channels off air.
- Ukrainian officials said a missile hit the nearby Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial site, killing at least five people. "To the world: what is the point of saying 'never again' for 80 years, if the world stays silent when a bomb drops on the same site of Babyn Yar?" Zelensky tweeted.
