Civilians in Kyiv headed for underground shelters as the alert spread across multiple districts of the capital.

Meanwhile, satellite images showed that a huge Russian military convoy (according to some calculations about 65 km long) is slowly approaching Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, from the north.

“Every day the enemy sends more and more forces. But our glorious armed forces are destroying everything that reaches Kyiv, which remains the main target to attack,” he added.

To deal with the invasion, the Ukrainian government seems ready to resort to all available resources.

In a televised speech broadcast on Monday night, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that as of March 1, any foreigner who wishes to fight against Russia will be allowed to enter the country without a visa .

“Every day the enemy sends more and more forces. But our glorious armed forces are destroying everything that reaches Kyiv, which remains the main target to attack,” he added.

To deal with the invasion, the Ukrainian government seems ready to resort to all available resources.

The images, taken before noon on Monday local time in Kyiv, show military units near the Antonov airport, some 27 kilometers away from the center of the capital.

According to Maxar Technologies, the company that released the photos, the convoy is about 64 kilometers long and contains “hundreds of armored vehicles, tanks, artillery, and logistics support vehicles.”

To the west and northwest of Kyiv, satellite images show destroyed armored vehicles and a damaged bridge near Irpin and Stoyanka.

In addition, Maxar added that new photos show troops on the ground and attack helicopters in southern Belarus, less than 30 kilometers from the border with Ukraine.

US intelligence services warned Monday night that “the worst is yet to come” in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities.

The offensive on Kharkiv

Russia is attacking Ukraine on several fronts, but its advance has been slowed by Ukrainian resistance

Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, has been one of the hardest hit.

Local authorities and the Ukrainian Interior Ministry reported that civilians were killed by “massive rocket attacks” on that city, but the exact figure is not known.

Images posted by civilians on social media showed an artillery explosion that some defense analysts described as typical of a cluster bomb attack in a densely populated urban area.

Russia has denied that it is targeting residential neighborhoods.

“We have been hiding in a basement for four days. And it only gets worse. We are running out of food,” said Alena, who has been confined with her two children without being able to leave the house.

Svetlana has also been taking refuge but in the Kharkiv metro.

“The woman behind me has a small child in a stroller, can you imagine what it’s like to be in this condition? And the shooting does not stop,” he said.

Maryana, for her part, stated that she has not been able to stop crying. “I have never been a religious person, but now I pray and ask the whole world to pray for Ukraine,” she said.

Elena and her daughter, on the other hand, did manage to escape from Kharkiv shortly after the bombing began.

“We woke up and we were under attack. It was unbelievably scary. We are asking you to stop this war against the people of Ukraine,” he said.

Shells landed near a city shopping center during the day as fighting continued in the streets.

Peter Zeihan, an American geopolitical expert, noted in a message on his Twitter account that there is no military base in Kharkiv.

President Zelensky on Monday accused Russia of committing war crimes in Kharkiv, saying dozens of eyewitness accounts suggest Russian artillery strikes are part of a “deliberate” attempt to destroy the population.

Other cities under attack

Ukrainian officials said Russian troops launched an assault on the city of Kherson, located in the south of the country about 550 kilometers from Kyiv.

Kherson regional authorities said via Facebook that the city is surrounded, but had not been captured.

“It is difficult to know how the situation will develop,” Kherson Mayor Igor Kolykhaye wrote, noting that Russian forces had placed checkpoints at all entrances to the city.

As Alena Panina, a journalist based in Kherson, told the Ukraine 24 network, in that city they still have electricity, water, and heating, but difficulties are expected as food reserves for the 300,000 residents are stored in warehouses on the outskirts of the city.

A video shows huge clouds of smoke from a burning shopping mall in Chernihiv, another city that has come under pressure from the Russian offensive.

“Our hearts are broken, we don’t understand anything. For the fifth day, we, my country, my people, my family, my parents, and my brother, my beloved son, are living in fear in subhuman conditions.”

Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday that some 70 soldiers were killed in a Russian artillery attack on a Ukrainian military base in the town of Okhtyrka in Sumy province, some 350 kilometers east of Kyiv.

Rescuers work to find survivors in the rubble.

In a video posted on Twitter by the Ukrainian Emergency Services, it is possible to see the ruins of the military base.

Banned weapons?

Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States told U.S. lawmakers Monday that Russia has used a thermobaric weapon, banned by international conventions.

“They used the vacuum pump, which is prohibited by the Geneva Convention,” said Oksana Markarova.

These types of weapons do not use conventional ammunition.

Instead, they contain a high-pressure explosive and absorb oxygen from the environment to generate an extremely powerful explosion and shock wave.

According to the Human Rights Watch organization, its use has been seen before in the Chechen Republic.

Concern over rising civilian casualties

Western defense officials say the Russian military has made mistakes and faced challenges in its invasion of Ukraine.

They believe that Russia has underestimated the fighting will of the Ukrainian forces and their capabilities.

Russian troops face problems resupplying some units and getting engineering support such as bridging for forwarding units. This, they say, has been exacerbated by Russia’s failure to destroy Ukraine’s air defense systems.

Ukrainian forces have spread out and have been able to ambush Russian forces and concentrate on defending urban areas where the Russians will have difficulty maneuvering, they said.

However, they expressed concern about the increased use of Russian artillery fire, including in Kyiv and Kharkiv, and the subsequent risks of indiscriminate fire and increased civilian casualties.

They will investigate war crimes

Given the latest events, the International Criminal Court (ICC) reported that it will open an investigation.

“There is a reasonable basis to believe that both alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed in Ukraine,” prosecutor Karim A Khan said.

UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet noted that millions of civilians in Ukraine have been forced to congregate in makeshift bomb shelters, such as underground train stations, to escape blasts.

Since the invasion began on Thursday, February 24, his office has recorded 102 civilian deaths, including seven children, and more than 300 injuries.

“I’m afraid the real numbers are considerably higher,” he said.

Amnesty International also accused Russia of indiscriminate use of weapons in populated areas, which it said could amount to a war crime.