More than 70 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in the eastern city of Okhtyrka after a Russian missile strike on a military base, in what is thought to be the biggest loss of life in a single incident of Moscow’s ongoing invasion.
The death toll – reported by Ukrainian officials in the city – follows a sharp intensification of the Russian bombardment of Ukrainian cities, including the use of multiple launch rocket systems against civilian areas, which has led to increasing casualties.
The region’s head, Dmytro Zhyvytskyy, posted photographs on Telegram of the charred shell of a four-storey building and rescuers searching rubble following Monday’s strike on Okhtyrka.
There were contradictory initial reports of what had caused the casualties. According to some reports, the building was largely destroyed by a single strike by an Iskander ballistic missile or three reported strikes with smaller munitions, reportedly including fuel air explosives.
Video from the aftermath of the attack showed civil defence workers scrambling over piles of concrete rubble and a crane, attempting to lift debris to reach those underneath with a large water-filled crater nearby.
In a Facebook post, Zhyvytskyy said many Russian soldiers and some local residents also died in the bombardment.
The Okhtyrka mayor, Pavlo Kuzmenko, posted on Facebook, saying: “Again, the enemy is waging a vile war. A fuel-air bomb was dropped on an oil depot, oil tanks were blown up.”
The escalation in shelling and missile strikes in Ukraine’s urban areas came as a Russian military column gathering to the north of Kyiv was estimated to be 40 miles long, more than doubling in size in since the weekend amid warnings US intelligence warnings that Russia was attempting to complete its encirclement of Kyiv.
The Russian armoured convoy was 17 miles (25km) from the centre of the Ukrainian capital, a city normally home to three million, according to the US satellite company Maxar. Its photos also showed deployments of ground forces and ground attack helicopter units in southern Belarus, amid concerns its president, Alexander Lukashenko, could send troops to help Vladimir Putin’s Russian forces in the next 24 hours.
Lukashenko said on Tuesday his country had no plans to join the invasion, according to the state news agency.
The deaths in Okhtyrka came as the UK’s Ministry of Defence warned that the “use of heavy artillery in densely populated urban areas greatly increase the risk of civilian casualties”, and reports on Tuesday morning that Russian soldiers had entered the southern city of Kherson.
US senators warned of a “long and bloody fight ahead” after receiving classified briefings on Monday night that brought to life the spectre of a protracted battle over the capital and “street to street combat” in Kyiv against Russian forces who have been frustrated by a fierce resistance and their own logistical failures.
In the US, the Democratic senator Chris Murphy said intelligence suggested Russia would try to cut off Kyiv in the coming weeks. “The fight for Kyiv will be long and bloody and Ukrainians are rapidly preparing for street to street combat.”
The Republican senator Marco Rubio said: “What I think is pretty certain is Russia is off their timeline. I think they thought that within 72 hours they’d hold Kyiv.”
The developments followed reports in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-biggest city, of widespread use of indiscriminate weapons such as multiple rocket launchers against civilian areas on Monday, suggesting that the Kremlin, having failed to land a knockout blow in the first days of the war, was prepared to unleash more desperate methods.
In response, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, accused Russia of committing war crimes by attacking a “peaceful city” with no military facilities. “The Russians knew where they were shooting,” he said in a video address.
At least nine people were killed and 37 injured in rocket strikes on the eastern city in what appeared to be a shift towards bombing civilian areas. The mayor, Ihor Terekhov, said the death toll included three children. “Today we had a very difficult day. It showed us that it’s not just a war, this is a massacre of Ukrainian people,” Terekhov said.
The prosecutor of the international criminal court said he would launch an investigation into possible war crimes or crimes against humanity in Ukraine.
In other developments:
British prime minister Boris Johnson is due to fly to visit countries on Nato’s border with Russia on Tuesday, pledging that Vladimir Putin will “feel the consequences” for invading Ukraine.
China, something of an uneasy ally of Putin, has started evacuating citizens from Ukraine. The first group, students, left for Moldova on Monday, Chinese state media reported.
Ukraine relaxed visa rules to allow in foreign volunteers willing to help repel Russian forces.
The Ukrainian ambassador to the UN said Russia had used a thermobaric weapon during the invasion.
Talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations near the Belarus-Ukraine border ended inconclusively, with national news agencies quoting officials as saying the negotiators would return to their respective capitals for consultations before embarking on a second round of talks in the coming days.
Zelenskiy on Monday signed an official request for Ukraine to join the EU. The bloc said it was expecting Ukraine’s application “imminently” and it “would need to be assessed very rapidly by the council, and a decision made as to whether to request an urgent opinion from the commission”.
On Monday, the UN general assembly began an emergency session to address the Russian invasion. Ukraine’s allies are hoping to get the support of more than 100 countries to support a resolution condemning Russia, in an attempt to press home Moscow’s isolation.
While the assembly was under way, the US mission to the UN announced it was expelling 12 Russian diplomats for allegedly engaging in espionage activities that threatened national security.
Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzya, said the diplomats had been told to leave by 7 March. He called it another “hostile” measure against the Russian mission.
Ukraine’s UN ambassador, Sergiy Kyslytsya, hailed the end on Monday night of Russia’s month-long rotating presidency of the UN security council, saying: “I’m looking forward to midnight when this abomination – occupation of the seat of the president of the security council by Russia – will be over.”
Americans and Canadians have been answering Zelenskiy’s call for the formation of an “international legion” of foreign fighters. Visa rules have been relaxed from Tuesday to allow in those willing to help repel Russian forces. “I feel guilty to not go,” said Dax, 26, an Alabama veteran of the US army 82nd Airborne infantry division, who planned to deploy with other former US military personnel.
