Kyiv assault ‘within days’

Russian strikes hit fresh civilian targets in central and eastern Ukraine yesterday, including a city previously considered a safe haven, as Moscow's troops edged closer to the capital Kyiv.

More than two weeks after Russia invaded its neighbour on February 24, hundreds of thousands of civilians remain trapped and under bombardment, while the UN estimates some 2.5 million have fled.

Russian forces bearing down on Kyiv are regrouping northwest of the Ukrainian capital, satellite pictures showed, in what Britain said could be preparation for an assault on the city within days.

Western powers have imposed unprecedented sanctions on Moscow and sent funds and military aid to Kyiv, but have failed to halt Russia, with overnight strikes again reported across Ukraine yesterday.

The first high-level talks between the two sides on Thursday failed to make a breakthrough although Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday said there were "certain positive shifts".

"There are certain positive shifts, negotiators from our side reported to me," Putin told his Belarus counterpart Alexander Lukashenko during a televised meeting in Moscow.

He added that negotiations are "now being held on an almost daily basis."

Russian and Ukrainian negotiators have held several rounds of talks. The talks have led to the opening of several humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians from combat areas. Both sides have accused each other of blocking these efforts.

On the ground, three missiles hit civilian buildings in the central city of Dnipro early yesterday, destroying a shoe factory and killing a security guard.

The city had been considered a safe haven, becoming a hub for the coordination of humanitarian aid and those fleeing more severe fighting in the country's east.

Elsewhere, a care home for disabled people was hit in the village of Oskil, near Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine, in Russian strikes which also destroyed five houses, local officials said. There were no reports of casualties.

Military targets were also hit early yesterday, with four Ukrainian servicemen killed in strikes on the Lutsk military airport in the northwest, local officials said. Moscow said the airfield had been "put out of action".

Meanwhile the advance of Russian forces continued against the capital Kyiv, which risks being entirely surrounded.

The Ukrainian military warned Russia was trying to "block" Kyiv by taking out defences to the west and north of the capital, adding that there was also a risk to Brovary in the east.

Kyiv's mayor Vitali Klitschko said Thursday that half the city's population had fled and the capital "has been transformed into a fortress".

The northwest suburbs, including Irpin and Bucha, have already endured days of heavy bombardment but Russian armoured vehicles are also advancing on the northeastern edge.

Ukrainian soldiers described fierce fighting for control of the main highway leading into the capital, and AFP reporters saw missile strikes in Velyka Dymerka just outside Kyiv's city limits on Thursday.

The Kremlin yesterday said that fighters from Syria and the Middle East would be allowed to fight for Russia in what Moscow calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine.

The Russian army this week admitted conscripts were taking part, after Putin previously said only "professional" soldiers were involved.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of hiring "murderers from Syria, a country where everything has been destroyed... like they are doing here to us".

"It is impossible to say how many days we still have to free Ukrainian land. But we can say we will do it. For we have already reached a strategic turning point. We are already moving towards our goal, our victory," he said speaking outdoors in a street with a Ukrainian flag in the background.

Zelensky also demanded the European Union "do more" to help his country.

EU leaders meeting in France yesterday were expected to back a proposal to double financing for military aid to Ukraine by an extra 500 million euros ($550 million).

Late Thursday the US congress passed a budget including $14 billion in humanitarian and military aid for Ukraine.

But the US has ruled out enforcing a no-fly zone, and rejected a Polish plan to transfer fighter jets to Ukraine via a US air base for fear of being drawn directly into the conflict.

The southern port city of Mariupol has suffered relentless bombardment, and Zelensky said Thursday that attempted aid deliveries had been hit.

In a video, Mariupol mayor Vadym Boichenko said Russian warplanes had targeted residential areas in the city "every 30 minutes" on Thursday, "killing civilians, the elderly, women and children".

The situation in the city has been described as "apocalyptic", with more than 1,200 civilians killed in days of constant attacks, according to the mayor.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said some residents had started fighting for food, and many had run out of drinking water.