Russia’s war in Ukraine: complete guide in maps, video and pictures
Russian rocket attacks have killed dozens of people in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials have said, in an apparent change of Russian tactics after a slower advance over four days of fighting than many expected.
This photo shows the aftermath of a strike in Kharkiv:
Pre-dawn blasts were again heard in the capital, Kyiv, and in the port city of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov in the south, officials said, but they added that attempts by Russian ground forces to capture major urban centres were still being repelled.
Residents in Mariupol said it was surrounded by Russian forces and under heavy attack. Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had taken control of the towns of Berdyansk and Enerhodar in the south-eastern Zaporizhzhia region, as well as the area around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
An attempted incursion in to Kharkiv was defeated, the Ukrainians said, a verdict largely confirmed by reporters on the ground.
Attacks to the north-west of Kyiv were also repelled, though in Ukraine’s southern coastal regions the Russian military appeared to be gaining strength.
In a sign that Russia was more actively targeting fixed infrastructure with missile attacks, an oil terminal was set ablaze in Vasylkiv, nearly 25 miles (40km) south-west of Kyiv.
Satellite images showed a large, 3.25-mile long deployment of forces in a convoy north-east of Ivankiv, moving in the direction of Kyiv approximately 40 miles to the south. The convoy contains fuel, logistics and armoured vehicles.
On Thursday Russia attacked Ukraine along multiple axes, bringing to a calamitous end weeks of fruitless diplomatic efforts by western leaders to avert war.
Fighting and other military activity took place around and on the way to
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