Russian tanks arrived at the gates of Kyiv on Thursday in their strategy to encircle Ukraine’s big cities after a day of high-level negotiations that ended with accusations against Moscow of attacking a humanitarian corridor.

On the ground, an AFP team saw plumes of smoke in the town of Skybyn, a few hundred meters from the last checkpoint on the northeast edge of Kyiv. Russian tanks had already reached the northern and western suburbs.

According to the Ukrainian General Staff, Russian forces continue to advance to surround Kyiv without neglecting other fronts, such as the cities of Izium, Petrovske, Sumy, Ojtyrka and the Donetsk region.

Hours earlier, the bombing of a pediatric hospital in the Ukrainian port of Mariupol, besieged by Russian troops, was reported, sparking an outcry of global outrage.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson denounced an “immoral” attack, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described as a “war crime” committed in that strategic port on the Sea of Azov.

The White House, for its part, lashed out at the “barbaric” use of force against civilians, while the UN and the World Health Organization ( WHO ) called for “the immediate cessation” of the attacks on health facilities.