Five killed in Russian strike on Kyiv TV tower

An apparent Russian airstrike aimed at Kyiv's main television tower killed five people on Tuesday, officials said, knocking out some broadcasts but leaving the structure intact.

After a blast sounded around the city and smoke was seen rising in the Babi Yar district, the emergencies service said five people were also injured in the attack.

Ukrainian officials released footage of charred bodies and cars damaged by the strike, which came during a surge of Russian attacks on Ukraine's second city of Kharkiv.

"To the world: what is the point of saying 'never again' for 80 years, if the world stays silent when a bomb drops on the same site of Babi Yar," Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky asked in a tweet.

"Once again, these barbarians are murdering the victims of Holocaust!"

The tower is based near the Babi Yar ravine where more than 30,000 were slaughtered by the Nazis during World War II.

The tragedy is commemorated by a memorial statue and is a site of pilgrimage for many Jews.

Ukrainian officials accused Moscow of threatening the memorial.

Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said the attack damaged the tower's transformer substation, which provides it with electricity, as well as some of its hardware.

The interior ministry said that back-up systems would be put into operation to restore programming.

Most Ukrainian channels appeared to be functioning normally about an hour after the strike.

Russia also warned Kyiv residents to flee their homes on Tuesday and rained rockets on the city of Kharkiv as Russian commanders intensified their bombardment of Ukrainian urban areas in a shift of tactics after their six-day assault stalled.

A US official said a miles-long armoured column bearing down on Kyiv had not made any advances on the capital in the past 24 hours, frozen in place by logistics problems, short on fuel and food, and perhaps pausing to reassess tactics.

Russia's defence ministry said it was planning to strike targets in Kyiv used by Ukraine's security service. It warned residents near such sites to evacuate their homes, while giving no information about where in the city of three million people those targets were located.

Rocket strikes on Ukraine's second biggest city Kharkiv killed at least 10 people and wounded 35, Ukrainian Interior Ministry adviser Anton Herashchenko said. Similar strikes killed and wounded dozens in Kharkiv on Monday.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the artillery barrages on Kharkiv, a city of 1.5 million, amounted to "state terrorism".

'Shambolic'

But nearly a week since Russian troops poured over the border, they have not captured a single major Ukrainian city after running into far fiercer resistance than they expected.

Michael Kofman, an expert on the Russian military at Washington DC's Wilson Center, tweeted: "Looking at the Russian operation so far, they're having tremendous problems with logistics and communications. The whole effort seems shambolic."

Many Western military analysts fear that Russia will now fall back on tactics which call for crushing bombardment of built-up areas before trying to enter them.

A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said:

"One reason why things appear to be stalled north of Kyiv is that the Russians themselves are regrouping and rethinking and trying to adjust to the challenges that they've had."

The Russians have been surprised not only by the scale of Ukrainian resistance but also by poor morale among their own forces, some of whom surrendered without a fight, the US official said.

Russia still has more forces to throw into the fight even though President Vladimir Putin has drawn global condemnation and sanctions that have already sent the rouble into freefall and forced Russians to queue outside banks for their savings.

Russia's TASS news agency reported new peace talks would be held on Wednesday. A first round of talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials on Monday at the Belarus border failed to reach a breakthrough.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Kyiv was ready to talk but would not bow to Russian ultimatums.

In the south, Russia claimed to have completely encircled Ukraine's Azov Sea coast. If confirmed, that would mean Russian forces invading from Crimea had joined up with separatists in the east and had cut off Ukraine's main eastern port, Mariupol.

Zelenskiy's government retains control of Kyiv with soldiers and civilians ready to fight invaders street by street.

Pictures released by US satellite company Maxar showed Russian tanks, artillery and fuel trucks stretching for 40 miles (60 km) along a highway to the north.

"For the enemy, Kyiv is the key target," Zelenskiy, who has remained in the capital rallying Ukrainians, said in a message overnight. "We will neutralise them all."