Russian forces bombarded the central square in Ukraine’s second-largest city and other civilian sites on Tuesday.
In Kyiv, the TV tower in the capital was hit, according to Ukraine’s parliament, which posted a photo of clouds of smoke around it. Local media reported that there were several explosions and that Ukrainian TV channels stopped broadcasting shortly afterward.
According to agencies reports, a 64-kilometer convoy of hundreds of Russian tanks and other vehicles advanced on Kyiv.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces pressed their military action on other towns and cities across the country, including near the strategic ports of Odesa and Mariupol in the south.
In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-biggest 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 was moved to an underground shelter. Kharkiv’s Freedom Square, Ukraine’s largest plaza, and the nucleus of public life in the city was struck.
Human Rights Watch said it documented a cluster bomb attack outside a hospital in Ukraine’s east in recent days. The Kremlin denied using such weapons.
The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor said he plans to open an investigation into possible war crimes in the invasion.