A huge convoy of Russian military vehicles is making its way toward the outskirts of Kyiv, ahead of a feared assault on the Ukrainian capital.
Reports suggest a 40-mile queue as Russian armour and troops approach the frontlines, with reports that Moscow is planning a wholescale offensive on the city.
Others believe Russia is attempting to encircle Kyiv, besiege the city and starve it into submission.
Earlier, more than 70 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in an artillery barrage on a military base situated between Kharkiv and Kyiv, a local official has reported.
Footage of the aftermath of the devastating strike on the Okhtyrka military base shows rescue workers attempting to retrieve survivors from the rubble of a smoldering four-story building where dozens are feared dead.
The massacre marks an intensification of Russian efforts to take Ukraine's two major cities of Kyiv and Kharkiv, where Ukrainian forces are putting up stiff resistance.
Cluster bombs, GRAD missiles, and possibly thermobaric devices have been used in attacks on the cities, killing well over a hundred civilians.
Human rights groups have sounded the alarm of more punitive Russian strikes on civilian areas in the coming days, as has been witnessed in Syria since Moscow's intervention in 2015.
The New Arab is providing live updates of what's been happening on the ground and additional analysis on the conflict's significance.