\n Russian air strikes hit a residential block in Kharkiv and the main TV tower in the capital Kyiv, Ukraine said on Tuesday, as Moscow stepped up attacks despite sanctions and warnings of a humanitarian crisis.\n<\/p>\n
\n Eight people were reported killed in the strike in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second biggest city, on day six of Russia's invasion of its pro-Western neighbour.\n<\/p>\n
\n Kharkiv officials said 10 more people had been killed by Russian shelling on a local government building, and 10 more were found alive under the rubble.\n<\/p>\n
\n Ukrainian officials said the strike on the TV tower strike in Kiev killed five people, knocked out some state broadcasting but left the structure intact.\n<\/p>\n
\n It came after Russia warned Kyiv residents living near security infrastructure to leave their homes.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"This is state terrorism on the part of Russia,\" said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, accusing Moscow of committing a \"war crime\".\n<\/p>\n
\n Russia has denied targeting civilian infrastructure.\n<\/p>\n
\n Visiting Estonia on Tuesday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the bombardment of Kharkiv \"absolutely sickening\" and reminiscent of massacres of civilians in Sarajevo in the 1990s.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"It has that feel to me of an atrocity committed against a civilian centre,\" he said.\n<\/p>\n
\n An AFP reporter in Kharkiv, which is in northeast Ukraine near the Russian border, saw rescue workers carrying a body out of the government building.\n<\/p>\n
\n - Strategic win along Azov Sea -\n<\/p>\n
\n The International Criminal Court has already opened a war crimes investigation against Russia since Moscow began its invasion on Thursday.\n<\/p>\n
\n Ukraine says more than 350 civilians, including 14 children, have been killed in the conflict so far.\n<\/p>\n
\n New Delhi said an Indian student was among the victims, killed by shelling in Kharkiv.\n<\/p>\n
\n There was no breakthrough in initial talks between Russia and Ukraine Monday and Russian forces have pressed further into the country.\n<\/p>\n
\n In southern Ukraine, the city of Mariupol on the Azov Sea was left without electricity after bombardment, while Kherson on the Black Sea reported Russian checkpoints encircling the city.\n<\/p>\n
\n In a key victory for Moscow, Russia's defence ministry said its troops had linked up with the forces of pro-Moscow rebels from eastern Ukraine in a region along the Azov Sea coast.\n<\/p>\n
\n But Ukrainian forces say that despite incursions by \"sabotage groups\" into the cities, Russian forces have yet to capture a major settlement.\n<\/p>\n
\n - 'Shattered peace in Europe' -\n<\/p>\n
\n During a visit to an airbase in Poland, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Russian President Vladimir Putin had \"shattered peace in Europe\".\n<\/p>\n
\n Zelensky meanwhile reiterated an urgent appeal for his pro-Western country to be admitted to the European Union.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Prove you are with us,\" he told MEPs in a video address to the European Parliament. \"Prove you are not abandoning us and you are really Europeans.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n More than 660,000 people have already fled abroad, the UN refugee agency said, estimating that a million people are displaced within ex-Soviet Ukraine, which has a population of 44 million.\n<\/p>\n
\n The UN estimates that up to four million refugees may need help in the coming months and 12 million more will need assistance within the country.\n<\/p>\n
\n It has asked for $1.7 billion in urgent aid, while the EU pledged 500 million euros.\n<\/p>\n
\n Russia has defied international bans, boycotts and sanctions to press ahead with an offensive it says is aimed at defending Ukraine's Russian speakers and toppling the leadership.\n<\/p>\n
\n Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said Russia would continue \"until set goals are achieved\".\n<\/p>\n
\n He vowed to \"demilitarise and de-Nazify\" Ukraine and protect Russia from a \"military threat created by Western countries\".\n<\/p>\n
\n Western powers are planning more sanctions in response, with French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said they would \"bring about the collapse of the Russian economy\".\n<\/p>\n
\n Russia's former president Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia's Security Council, hit back, warning that \"economic wars quite often turned into real ones\" in the past.\n<\/p>\n
\n - 'Bombing kept us up all night' -\n<\/p>\n
\n Fears are growing of an all-out assault to capture Kyiv -- a city of 2.8 million people.\n<\/p>\n
\n Satellite images provided by US firm Mazar showed a 65-kilometre (40-mile) long build-up of armoured vehicles and artillery north of the city.\n<\/p>\n
\n Zelensky said defending the city was now \"the key priority for the state\".\n<\/p>\n
\n Inside Kyiv, makeshift barricades dotted the streets and residents formed long queues outside the few shops that remained open to buy basic essentials.\n<\/p>\n
\n In the village of Shaika near Kyiv, Natasha, 51, opened a canteen in the local church to feed soldiers and volunteers.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"The shelling and the bombing kept us up all night,\" she said.\n<\/p>\n
\n - Sanctions hit Russians -\n<\/p>\n
\n Western nations have moved to further isolate Russia, responding with an intensifying diplomatic, economic, cultural and sporting backlash.\n<\/p>\n
\n US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday suggested Russia should be stripped of UN rights council membership.\n<\/p>\n
\n Germany has already promised arms for Ukraine, while the EU also said it will buy and supply arms to Ukraine, the first such move in its history.\n<\/p>\n
\n Turkey said it would implement an international treaty to limit ships passing through the Dardanelles and Bosphorus straits, a move requested by Ukraine to block the transit of Russian warships.\n<\/p>\n
\n Within Russia, sanctions imposed by the West have begun to bite.\n<\/p>\n
\n Putin announced emergency measures intended to prop up the Russian ruble, including banning Russians from transferring money abroad, after the currency crashed to a record low.\n<\/p>\n
\n Many ordinary Russians have raced to withdraw cash.\n<\/p>\n
\n - Russian conductor sacked -\n<\/p>\n
\n The response from the world of sports also gathered steam.\n<\/p>\n
\n Russia was expelled from the World Cup and the country's clubs and national teams suspended from all international football competitions.\n<\/p>\n
\n The International Olympic Committee on Monday urged sports federations and organisers to exclude Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials from international events.\n<\/p>\n
\n In the arts, the Munich Philharmonic said it was parting ways with star Russian conductor Valery Gergiev \"with immediate effect\" after he failed to respond to a request to denounce the invasion.\n<\/p>\n
\n Russian soprano Anna Netrebko said she was stepping back from performing \"until further notice\" amid controversy over her pro-Kremlin stance despite her condemnation of the war in Ukraine.\n<\/p>\n
\n The Cannes Film Festival meanwhile banned Russian delegations from this year's event.\n<\/p>\n
\n burs-dt\/jj<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Russian air strikes hit a residential block in Kharkiv and the main TV tower in the capital Kyiv, Ukraine said on Tuesday, as Moscow stepped up attacks despite sanctions and warnings of a humanitarian crisis. Eight people were reported killed in the strike in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second biggest city, on day six of Russia's invasion […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-88110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n