Russia warned Kyiv residents to flee their homes yesterday and rained rockets down on Kharkiv, as Russian commanders who have failed to achieve a quick victory shifted their tactics to intensify the bombardment of Ukrainian cities.

Western sanctions against Russia are having a huge impact on its economy, Germany’s finance minister said yesterday, as the G7 mulled further punitive measures in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Kremlin yesterday said it was too early to draw conclusions from talks held with Ukraine on ending the war after Moscow invaded last week.

The UK government warned yesterday that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his commanders in Ukraine could face prosecution for war crimes and that Western sanctions would remain “for as long as it takes”.

Western powers must enforce a no-fly zone over Ukraine to stop an unfolding humanitarian catastrophe, an activist said on Tuesday in an impassioned plea to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to do more to help her country in the wake of Russia's military attack.

Russia warned Kyiv residents to flee their homes on Tuesday and rained rockets down on Kharkiv, as Russian commanders who have failed to achieve a quick victory shifted their tactics to intensify the bombardment of Ukrainian cities.

“But this isn’t a place, with all due respect, like Iraq or Afghanistan, that has seen conflict raging for decades. This is a relatively civilized, relatively European -- I have to choose those words carefully, too -- city, one where you wouldn’t expect that, or hope that it’s going to happen.”

At least 10 people were killed and 35 wounded on Tuesday in rockets strikes by Russian forces on the centre of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, Interior Ministry adviser Anton Herashchenko said in a post on social media.

Russia's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday said a system should be created to hold western tech giants, including Meta Platforms Inc (FB.O) and Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) Google, responsible for what it called "inciting war", the Interfax news agency reported.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is to address the European Parliament by videolink on Tuesday as his country battles to hold back invading Russian forces, the legislature's speaker said.

A Russian news agency published and then deleted an article prematurely praising Russia’s success in invading Ukraine, reports BBC.

In the first Indian casualty in Russia-Ukraine war, a 20-year-old student, who was studying medicine in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, was killed this morning in heaving shelling there, Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.

Russian central bank more than doubled its main policy interest rate to 20 percent on Monday to support the plunging ruble.

Two major Hollywood studios, Disney and Warner Bros, said they would pause theatrical releases of upcoming films in Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine and the unfolding humanitarian crisis.

The presidents of eight central and eastern European nations on Monday called on European Union member states to immediately grant Ukraine a EU candidate country status and open membership talks according to an open letter published on Monday.

Satellite images taken on Monday show a Russian military convoy north of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv that stretches for about 40 miles (64 km), substantially longer than the 17 miles (27 km) reported earlier in the day, a US private company said.

The United States sees no reason to change its nuclear alert levels at this time, a White House official said on Monday after Russia put its nuclear deterrent on high alert amid a barrage of Western reprisals over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

The 193-member United Nations General Assembly began meeting on the crisis in Ukraine on Monday ahead of a vote this week to isolate Russia by deploring its "aggression against Ukraine" and demanding Russian troops stop fighting and withdraw.

Russia has closed its airspace to airlines from 36 countries, including all 27 members of the European Union, in response Ukraine-related sanctions targeting its aviation sector.

Oil prices jumped on Monday as Western allies imposed more sanctions on Russia and blocked some Russian banks from a global payments system, which could cause severe disruption to its oil exports.