Humanitarian convoy to Chernihiv hit by Russian shelling: Ukrainian official

A Ukrainian official says that at least one person has been killed and four others have been wounded in the Russian shelling of a humanitarian convoy.

Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Lyudmyla Denisova said those who came under the shelling on Thursday were volunteers accompanying a convoy of buses sent to the northern city of Chernihiv to evacuate residents.

She said that the Russian forces besieging Chernihiv have made it impossible to evacuate civilians from the city that has been cut from food, water and other supplies.

Ukraine also reported Russian artillery barrages in and around the northeastern city of Kharkiv.

The Russian shelling continued two days after Moscow announced it would scale back military operations around Kyiv and Chernihiv. NATO's chief said on Thursday this was a regrouping rather than a withdrawal.

"Russia has repeatedly lied about its intentions," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said. At the same time, he said, pressure is being kept up on Kyiv and other cities, and "we can expect additional offensive actions bringing even more suffering."

In his nighttime video address to the nation Thursday, Zelensky said it was heartening for all Ukrainians to see Russian troops retreating from north of Kyiv, Chernihiv and Sumy in the northeast.

But he urged Ukrainians not to let up, saying the withdrawal was just a Russian tactic.

"We know their intentions. We know what they are planning and what they are doing," Zelensky said. "We know that they are moving away from those areas where we hit them in order to focus on other, very important areas ... where it may be difficult for us.

"We all want to win," Zelensky added. "But there will be battles ahead. We still have to go through a very difficult path ahead to get everything we are striving for."

The southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol and a "corridor" between two eastern towns, Izyum and Volnovakha, are becoming the key battlefronts in Ukraine, an interior ministry adviser said on Thursday.

Five weeks into an invasion that has blasted cities into wastelands, U.S. and European officials said Russian President Vladimir Putin was misled by his generals about the dire performance of Russia's military.

Tough resistance by Ukrainian forces has prevented Russia from capturing any major city, including the capital Kyiv, which it assaulted with armoured columns from the northwest and east.

Moscow says it is now focusing on "liberating" the Donbas region — two southeastern provinces partly controlled by separatists Russia has backed since 2014.