Strikes: Russia shifts to an aggressive bombing campaign, increasingly hitting civilians

Kyiv, Ukraine CNN —  

Russiain forces fired rockets near a TV tower in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Tuesday hours after warning of “high-precision” strikes on other facilities linked to Ukrainian security agencies.

The rocket attack took out broadcasting hardware, raising fears that Russia is attempting to knock out the city’s communications infrastructure, Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs said.

In videos and social media posts shared soon after the strike, plumes of smoke were seen swirling around the red-and-white steel TV tower building.

The attack, along with a beef-up of assaults on other key cities, brings the Russian invasion right into the heart of the nation.

As the rockets hit Kyiv, a 40-mile Russian convoy of tanks, armored vehicles and towed artillery was headed toward the Ukrainian capital, according to satellite images from Maxar Technologies, while the military beefed up its attacks on other key cities.

The attack in Kyiv came just hours after the Russian military threatened to carry out high-precision strikes in Kyiv, though it said its targets were Ukrainian State Security Agency facilities and the country’s psychological operations unit, according to a statement reported by Russian state media TASS. The military told nearby residents to leave their homes.

Russian forces also attacked key cities in Ukraine from several sides, scaling up its bombardment of Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, in the northeast and breaking through a heavily contested port city in the south.

Russia’s actions on Tuesday mark a far less restrained bombing campaign, raising concerns that more civilians could be hit in strikes. The UN says that at least 102 civilians have been killed across the country and 304 injured, though those figures are likely to underestimate the true toll.

US officials also warned that the sheer breadth of Russian firepower could overwhelm Ukrainian resistance.

Russia’s military is far bigger and more powerful than Ukraine’s by just about every measure, but Ukraine’s allies, including the European Union, are scrambling to send more weapons into the country to aid its defense.

On Tuesday, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko warned that “the enemy is on the outskirts of the capital,” but the Ukrainian military is “preparing to defend Kyiv.”

“Fortifications and checkpoints have been built at the entrances to the city. I ask everyone to keep calm. Do not go outside unnecessarily and stay in shelters in case of alarm,” he said in a video message.

Yet the Russian advance on Kyiv remains “basically… where it was yesterday” according to a senior defense official on Tuesday, noting “fuel and sustainment” problems and signs that they are running out of food.

The official also cited the possibility that the Russians were pausing their advance by choice because they could be “regrouping, rethinking, reevaluating.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made an impassioned plea to the European leaders on Tuesday to grant Ukraine immediate membership to the EU, saying his country was fighting for survival.

Zelensky’s plea comes as Russia accelerated strikes on Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv, which was rocked by a large explosion, which incinerated cars, blew out windows and destroyed a large government building in the main Freedom Square.

Emergency services say at least 10 people were killed and 24 injured in a Russian rocket strike, in what Zelensky described as an “act of terror” on civilians in a Facebook post.

Late Monday, at least five separate residential areas in Kharkiv were hit by rockets, according to CNN analysis of social media videos.

During a trip to Poland on Tuesday, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the Russian invasion “worse than our predictions,” pointing to attacks like those seen in Kharkiv’s neighborhoods.

“It is clear that Vladimir Putin is prepared to use barbaric and indiscriminate tactics against innocent civilians to bomb tower blocks, to send missiles into tower blocks, to kill children, as we’re seeing in increasing numbers,” he said.

A Kharkiv resident named Tetyana, 66, told CNN that a shell hit her house early Tuesday morning, shattering its windows.

Tetyana – who sleeps in her shoes and coat since the invasion began – ran to her basement where her relative Oleg told her that his car had burned down and “the school in the yard was totally destroyed.”

The day before, CNN confirmed five residential areas in the city had been hit by military strikes on Monday using videos shared on social media.

Dramatic video, taken by a surveillance-type camera at an apartment complex on Velyka Kil’tseva St, shows repeated explosions from one strike that landed in a parking lot and walkway.

The intense shelling – at least eight explosions are seen but there are more heard – lasts for 20 seconds. As the munitions rain down, people are seen running as the explosions dot the ground: one individual falls to the ground as explosions surround them. A parked car explodes after taking a direct hit.

On Klochkivska Street, graphic videos shows blood and body parts outside of a small grocery store.

“It’s horrible, guys,” a voice in the video says. “Right in my part of the city. Boots and leg were removed, here’s parts of brain.”

Russian-backed forces have also made gains down South. In the port city of Kherson – west of Mariupol and north of the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014 – Ukrainian defensive lines appear to have fallen and Russian military vehicles have seen driving inside the city.

The leader of the self-declared separatist region in Donetsk said he expects his forces to surround the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol on Tuesday. The town of Volnovakha, half-way between Mariupol and Donetsk, was almost completely surrounded, Denis Pushilin added.

Ukraine has accused Russia of committing war crimes by targeting civilians, and on Monday, the International Criminal Court said it would open an investigation into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – a move that was welcomed by Kyiv.

The Kremlin has denied the accusations, repeatedly saying it is not targeting civilian areas.

As bitter fighting takes place across the country, many Ukrainians are fleeing the country at a pace that could turn into “Europe’s largest refugee crisis this century,” the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said Tuesday.

There are more than 660,000 refugees who have fled to neighboring countries in the past six days, the UNHCR said in a statement.

Many of them are women who have had to make tough decisions to leave behind their fathers and husbands – men ages 18 to 60 are banned from leaving Ukraine.

Foreigners are also desperately trying to leave the country, but some have found themselves waiting in the cold to get out. Some have endured racism from border guards.

Other Ukrainians have opted to stay and join the resistance. Volunteers are pouring into the capital, where there’s a feeling of defiance among many. Some are gathering bottles to make Molotov cocktails.