The Russian military launched missiles at Kyiv’s TV tower after saying it would strike targets tied to “information attacks” from Ukraine’s security services, temporarily taking TV channels off air.
- Ukrainian officials said a missile hit the nearby Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial site, killing at least five people. “To the world: what is the point of saying ‘never again’ for 80 years, if the world stays silent when a bomb drops on the same site of Babyn Yar?” Zelensky tweeted.
- A senior U.S. defense official told reporters Tuesday that Russia’s advance on Kyiv had stalled, and that there were signs of flagging Russian morale: “A lot of these soldiers are conscripts who have never been in combat before. Some of them, we believe, weren’t even told they were gonna be in combat.”
- 80% of Russia’s combat power that had assembled on the border has now been committed to Ukraine, the official said.
- Russian forces have entered the southern city of Kherson, but Ukraine still the controls city administrative buildings, according to Ukraine’s Interior Ministry.
- Russia’s prosecutor general demanded that two liberal media outlets — radio station Echo of Moscow and TV Rain — be shut down over to their coverage of the Russian invasion. HoursMoscow and TV Rain — be shut down over to their coverage of the Russian invasion. Hours later, Echo of Moscow was taken off the air and access to TV Rain had begun to be restricted.
Kharkiv’s historic Freedom Square — one of the largest city squares in Europe — was hit by a Russian missile strike, causing massive damage to the local city hall.
- Zelensky released a video accusing Russia of “terrorism” and war crimes for its siege of Kharkiv, a mostly Russian-speaking city near the border that has endured some of the heaviest shelling of the conflict.
- Zelensky also spoke to the European Parliament in an emotional address on Tuesday and urged the EU to admit Ukraine as a member, saying that Ukrainians were fighting to be “equal members of Europe.” (Watch the full video).
- A Ukrainian military spokesman for the northern district claimed that Belarusian troops had crossed the border into the Chernihiv region, north of Kyiv. Belarus dictator Aleksandr Lukashenko still denies his troops will join the invasion.
- The southeastern port city of Mariupol has been surrounded by Russian troops and “has practically no electricity and centralized heating,” according to the mayor.
- A senior Pentagon official said seizing Mariupol and Kharkiv would allow Russia to cut off eastern Ukraine and pin Ukrainian forces away from Kyiv.
