Russian military convoy advances on Kyiv as Kharkiv hit hard by shelling

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Russian shelling pounded civilian targets in Ukraine's second-largest city again Tuesday and a convoy of tanks and other vehicles threatened the capital — tactics Ukraine's embattled president said were designed to force him into concessions.

With the Kremlin increasingly isolated by tough economic sanctions that have tanked the ruble currency, Russian troops attempted to advance on Ukraine's two biggest cities. In strategic Kharkiv, an eastern city with a population of about 1.5 million, videos posted online showed explosions hitting the region's Soviet-era administrative building and residential areas.

Throughout the 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 21st century 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, Russian President Vladimir Putin's options diminished as he seeks to redraw the global map — and pull Ukraine's western-leaning democracy back into Moscow's orbit.

"I believe Russia is trying to put pressure [on Ukraine] with this simple method," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said late Monday in a video address.

He did not offer details of the talks that took place Monday, but he said Kyiv was not prepared to make concessions "when one side is hitting another with rocket artillery."

The Kremlin has twice in as many days raised the spectre of nuclear war and put on high alert an arsenal that includes intercontinental ballistic missiles and long-range bombers. Stepping up his rhetoric, Putin denounced the United States and its allies as an "empire of lies."

Meanwhile, an embattled Ukraine moved to solidify its ties to the West by applying to join the European Union — a largely symbolic move for now, but one that won't sit well with Putin, who has long accused the United States of trying to pull Ukraine out of Moscow's orbit.

A top Putin aide and head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, said that during the first talks held between the sides since the invasion, the envoys "found certain points on which common positions could be foreseen." He said they agreed to continue the discussions in the days ahead.

The Russian military has denied targeting residential areas despite abundant evidence of shelling of homes, schools and hospitals.

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.

As the talks along the Belarusian border wrapped up, several blasts could be heard in Kyiv, and Russian troops advanced on the city of nearly three million. The convoy of armoured vehicles, tanks, artillery and support vehicles was 25 kilometres from the centre of the city, according to satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies.