Via Axios:
Maxar satellite imagery showed a 3.25-mile long convoy of Russian ground forces 40 miles northeast of Kyiv moving toward the capital city on Sunday.
Why it matters: According to Maxar, the convoy contains hundreds of armored vehicles including tanks and self-propelled artillery, fuel and logistics. U.S. and Ukrainian officials believe Russia’s primary military objective is to encircle Kyiv and topple the government.
Photo: Satellite image ©2022 Maxar Technologies
Via Daily Mail:
Blasts are heard in Kyiv and Kharkiv as Zelensky says Ukraine faces ‘crucial’ 24 hours and satellite images show three mile-long Russian convoy heading towards capital after Putin put nuclear deterrent forces on ‘alert’ ahead of peace talks
By TOM PYMAN & STEWART CARR
Blasts have been heard both in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and the country’s second biggest city of Kharkiv on Monday morning.
Kyiv had been mainly quiet overnight according to information provided by Ukrainian officials who released a brief statement on the Telegram messaging app.
Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that Ukraine faces a ‘crucial’ 24 hours as Russia throws even more ground forces at Kyiv.
Satellite images overnight showed a three mile-long convoy heading towards the capital, after Vladimir Putin put his nuclear deterrent forces on ‘alert’.
Russian military vehicles were pictured moving in despite officials agreeing to hold peace talks at the border with Belarus later today.
The images, released by Maxar Technologies, showed a deployment of hundreds of military vehicles moving in the direction of the Ukrainian capital from approximately 40 miles away.
It came as President Zelensky again spoke to Boris Johnson last night, who told him he will do ‘all he could’ to ensure further military aid reaches Ukrainian forces.
The Prime Minister praised the ‘heroic’ resistance of the Ukrainian people in the face of the Russian attack, according to the No 10 readout of the call.
Mr Zelensky said, in turn, that the next 24 hours will be ‘a crucial period’ for his country.
‘The Prime Minister lauded the bravery of the Ukrainian people following the Russian invasion and praised the leadership of President Zelensky in the face of such adversity,’ a No 10 spokesman said. ‘The resistance of the Ukrainian people was heroic, the Prime Minister added.
‘President Zelensky said he believed the next 24 hours was a crucial period for Ukraine, and the Prime Minister said he would do all he could to help ensure defensive aid from the UK and allies reached Ukraine.
‘The leaders agreed to continue to stay in close contact and the Prime Minister reiterated the UK’s staunch support for Ukraine’s sovereignty.’
It came as Ursula von der Leyen last night insisted Ukraine is ‘one of us’ as she led calls for the war-torn nation to join the European Union – which unveiled a fresh package of sanctions against Vladimir Putin’s regime, including closing off its airspace to all Russian planes and banning Kremlin propaganda outlets Russia Today and Sputnik.
Earlier on Sunday, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko issued a chilling threat that the West’s sanctions on Russia are pushing the Kremlin into a Third World War.
‘Now there is a lot of talk against the banking sector, gas, oil, SWIFT,’ Lukashenko said. ‘It’s worse than war. This is pushing Russia into a Third World War. We need to be restrained here so as not to get into trouble. Because nuclear war is the end of everything.’
Ukraine’s health ministry said on Sunday that 352 civilians, including 14 children, had been killed since the beginning of Russia’s invasion. It also said that 1,684 people, including 116 children, had been wounded
President Zelensky’s office had earlier said the two delegations will meet ‘without preconditions’ near the Pripyat River, to the north of Chernobyl, in a deal brokered in a phone call with Lukashenko himself.
A spokesperson added that Lukashenko has taken responsibility for ensuring that all planes, helicopters and missiles stationed on Belarusian territory remain on the ground during the Ukrainian delegation’s travel, talks and return.
Mr Zelensky described his discussion with Lukashenko as ‘very substantive’, adding that he had made it clear he did not want troops to move from Belarus to Ukraine and Lukashenko ‘assured him of this’.
He added: ‘I do not really believe in the outcome of this meeting, but let them try, so that later not a single citizen of Ukraine has any doubt that I, as president, tried to stop the war.’
It came as Putin declared, in his own televised address, that he had ordered troops operating the nuclear deterrent onto a ‘special regime of duty’ in light of ‘aggressive statements’ from NATO leaders and ‘unfriendly economic actions’. Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg responded: ‘This is dangerous rhetoric’.
Ukraine filed a lawsuit against Russia at the Hague, with Mr Zelensky requesting that the UN International Court of Justice orders Russia to stop its attack against Ukraine and starts trials soon.
The United States also condemned Putin’s order to put his nuclear forces on high alert as dangerous and ‘unacceptable.’ The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield also said nothing was ‘off the table’ when asked about the possibility of Putin being tried in international court as a war criminal.
Boris Johnson, meanwhile, dismissed Putin’s announcement as a ‘distraction’ from the struggle his troops are facing in Ukraine. The Prime Minister also cast doubt on possible negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian delegations to try to resolve the crisis.
‘There’s nothing I’ve seen so far in his behaviour that leads me to think that he could possibly be sincere,’ he said.
Earlier Russian television footage showed Mr Putin meeting with his defence minister and the chief of the general staff, and instructing them to put the nuclear deterrent on a ‘special regime of combat duty’.
‘Western countries aren’t only taking unfriendly actions against our country in the economic sphere, but top officials from leading Nato members made aggressive statements regarding our country,’ he said.
But on a day when the expected assault on Kyiv again failed to materialise and the Ukrainians claimed to have driven Russian forces out of the country’s second city Kharkiv, Mr Johnson said his words were ‘a distraction from the reality of what’s going on’.
‘This is an innocent people who are facing a totally unprovoked act of aggression against them, and what’s actually happening is that they are fighting back perhaps with more effect, with more resistance, than the Kremlin had bargained for,’ he said.
‘You can see some of the logistical difficulties that the Russian forces are experiencing. The Russian defence ministry have themselves conceded that they’re having casualties. This is a disastrous misbegotten venture by President Putin.’
Elsewhere, oil giant BP announced on Sunday it is ditching its controversial 20 per cent stake in the Russian energy group Rosneft ‘with immediate effect’.
Chief executive Bernard Looney revealed the move today, saying he was ‘saddened’ and ‘shocked’ by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
It comes after he was summoned to a meeting with Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng on Friday amid growing unease about the BP’s Russian dealings.
As Russian troops draw closer to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv’s mayor is filled with pride over his citizens’ spirit but remains anxious about how long they can hold out.
After a gruelling night of Russian attacks on the outskirts of the city, mayor Vitali Klitschko was silent for several seconds when asked if there were plans to evacuate civilians if Russian troops managed to take Kyiv.
‘We can’t do that, because all ways are blocked,’ he finally said. ‘Right now we are encircled.’
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