Deadly blast at Kyiv TV tower after Russia warns capital
Russian column near Kyiv hampered by breakdowns
Frank Gardner
BBC Security Correspondent
Some clarity on that massive Russian armoured column heading south towards Kyiv.
Close analysis of the latest satellite images by McKenzie Intelligence Services reveals the following:
- The convoy is not 40 miles long, it’s a series of logistical ‘packets’ strung out along a major highway from the Belarus border, aiming to link up with Russian units on the northern outskirts of Kyiv.
- The convoy appears to be hampered in several places by broken down vehicles.
- The column consists of some armour (tanks) and infantry fighting vehicles but mainly logistical vehicles, implying plans for more than just a brief battle.
Separately, the imagery examined by McKenzie Intelligence Services shows a Russian parachute battalion dug in to the area of Hostomel airfield - Ukraine's most important international cargo airport and a key military airbase near Kyiv.
But their artillery is assessed to be outside the range of most of the capital.
The analysts say they have noted very little Russian progress over the past 24 hours.
Wildfires send giant cloud of ash across southern Paraguay
A massive, fast-moving cloud of ash hundreds of metres tall and several kilometres wide has swept over southern Paraguay, as storms blew debris from wildfires raging in neighbouring Argentina following two years of severe drought.
The colossal bank of smog enveloped Asunción, Paraguay’s capital, late on Monday, shrouding the city and its suburbs in a thick, grey haze with the aroma of burnt vegetation.
Forecasters warned residents to stay inside to avoid breathing in the smoky miasma.
‘I don’t want my kids to play war’: Life on the road for Ukraine’s displaced and homeless citizens
As the bombs began to fall on the edge of the Ukrainian capital, targeting the Vasylkiv air base to the south of Kyiv, Tetyana Filevska’s children turned to their mother for answers. The sky was black outside, the sounds distant and thunderous. But there was no fear, just curiosity.
“They asked: ‘Mum, what is that? What’s that noise?’” says Tetyana. But she could not communicate the gravity of what was unfolding just two miles away from her home. The language of war is not one spoken by children, so, instead, she told her two-year-old and six-year-old “something had happened” and that they were leaving immediately for their grandparents in the north-west of Ukraine.
“I was in shock,” Tetyana says. “I had this feeling of… I don’t know how to explain it. It’s like you don’t feel anything. You’re paralysed inside. You can’t really think or feel anything. You just have to escape. It’s something very instinctive.”
Can Russia's Ukraine invasion prompt China to attack Taiwan?
Experts believe that Russia's unilateral invasion of Ukraine could embolden China to attack Taiwan, which Beijing lays claims on. How will the West react to a potential Taiwan invasion?
As Russia continues to bomb Ukrainian cities, observers are paying close attention to China's reaction to the conflict.
Parallels are being drawn between Russia's actions in Ukraine and China's claims on Taiwan.
China's official position on the Ukraine conflict remains vague, although Beijing has dismissed comparisons between Taiwan and Ukraine.
On February 23, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said comparisons between Taiwan and Ukraine showed a "lack of the most basic understanding of the history of the Taiwan issue."
Ghana, Nigeria to fly home citizens stranded by Ukraine crisis
A first group of Ghanaian students evacuated from Ukraine arrived home on Tuesday as African governments stepped up efforts to extract stranded citizens following the Russian invasion.
Nigeria plans to start using chartered planes to evacuate hundreds of its citizens on Wednesday from neighbouring Poland, Romania and Hungary, where they have fled the conflict.
More than 660,000 people have fled Ukraine while around one million people are internally displaced, the United Nations said on Tuesday.
MENA faces a crisis as the world’s key wheat producers are at war
As two of the world’s key wheat producers face off in an all-out war, tomorrow looks grim for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries that need wheat from Ukraine and Russia.
Russia is the world’s number-one wheat exporter – and largest producer after China and India – Ukraine is among the top five wheat exporters worldwide.
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