Russian convoy 65-km long threatens Kyiv as artillery pounds Kharkiv

Russian shelling pounded the central square in Ukraine's second-largest city and other civilian targets Tuesday and a 65-kilometre-long convoy of tanks and other vehicles threatened the capital — as Ukraine's embattled president accused Moscow of resorting to terror tactics to press Europe's largest ground war in generations.

With the Kremlin increasingly isolated by tough economic sanctions that have tanked the ruble currency, Russian troops advanced on Ukraine’s two biggest cities on Day 6 of an invasion that has shaken the 21st century world order. In Kharkiv, a strategic eastern city with a population of about 1.5 million, at least six people were killed when the region’s Soviet-era administrative building was hit. Explosions tore through residential areas, and a maternity ward relocated to an underground shelter.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the targeted attack on Kharkiv’s main square “frank, undisguised terror,” blaming a Russian missile and calling it a war crime. “Nobody will forgive. Nobody will forget. ... This is state terrorism of the Russian Federation.”

In an emotional appeal to the European Parliament later, Zelenskyy said: “We are fighting also to be equal members of Europe. I believe that today we are showing everybody that is what we are ... We have proven that, as a minimum, we are the same as you.”

In addition to the strikes on cities, reports have emerged that Moscow has used cluster bombs on three populated areas. If confirmed, that would represent a worrying new level of brutality in the war — and could lead to even further isolation in Russia.