Satellite images reportedly show a massive Russian convoy stretching about 40 miles long outside Ukraine’s capital as the two nations battle for the sixth day.
Satellite images released by U.S.-based space technology firm Maxar Technologies showed about a 40-mile convoy of Russian tanks and armored vehicles outside Kyiv.
RUSSIA INVADES UKRAINE: LIVE UPDATES
Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, has meanwhile come under intense shelling. An explosion at a regional state administration building Tuesday left about six people injured, while the Indian government confirmed an Indian student in Kharkiv died in shelling.
"Today, Russian troops shelled Kharkiv using rocket artillery," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video posted to his Facebook account. "This is, without any doubt, a military crime. A peaceful city. Peaceful residential neighborhoods. Not a single military object in sight."
ZELENSKYY'S POWERFUL SPEECH MOVES TRANSLATOR TO TEARS
Zelenskyy called for an international tribunal to investigate Russia’s actions, suggesting that they amounted to state terrorism. He called for Russia to be penalized through measures such as losing its permanent membership on the United Nations Security Council and closing airspace, ports and canals to Russian vehicles.
"For such a crime, there needs to be a tribunal. An international one. This is a violation of all conventions. No one in the world will forgive you for the murder of peaceful Ukrainian people. This is Ukraine. This is Europe. This is the year 2022. Evil, armed with rockets, bombs and artillery, must be stopped immediately," Zelenskyy said.
Ukrainian and Russian officials held their first round of negotiations near the Belarus-Ukraine border on Monday, which lasted several hours. A second round of talks are slated to take place in the coming days.
KREMLIN SENDS 400 RUSSIAN MERCENARIES INTO KYIV ON MISSION TO ASSASSINATE ZELENSKYY: REPORT
"We could see the synchronization of the shelling with the negotiation process. I believe that in this unsophisticated way Russia is trying to put pressure," Zelenskyy said. "Fair negotiations can be when one side does not hit the other side with rocket artillery at the moment of negotiations."
Ukrainian authorities warned Tuesday morning that Belarus troops had entered Ukraine to aid Russian fighters. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has denied the report, saying his country sent troops to its border with Ukraine "stop any provocation against Belarus."
Tensions flared Sunday when Russian President Vladimir Putin raised the alert status for his nuclear forces to "special regime of combat duty." U.S. and other world officials, however, said Monday it is unlikely Putin would use nuclear weapons, though they are still considering the implications of Putin's statements.
Russia has also faced further intensified sanctions, with the U.S. on Monday imposing sanctions on Russia's central bank.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The fighting has led to more than 500,000 refugees fleeing Ukraine to neighboring countries, according to the UN refugee agency.
"I have worked in refugee crises for almost 40 years and I have rarely seen such an incredibly fast rising exodus of people," UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi told the UN Security Council Monday