Scramble to exit Kyiv becoming ‘ever more desperate’

*Russia had warned Kyiv residents to flee ahead of capital city attack

Western intelligence reports suggest Russia’s enormous military convoy near Kyiv has “stalled”, Al Jazeera’s Jonah Hull, reporting from the city of Lviv, in Western Ukraine, has said.

“Nevertheless it is still there, its progress will no doubt continue and the people in Kyiv will be very aware that it is coming as the scramble to get out of the city becomes ever more desperate,” Hull said.

Elsewhere in the country, he added, Kharkiv had been under continued bombardment overnight and Kherson had “conclusively fallen” under the control of Russian forces.

“And, of course, the other major flashpoint now is Mariupol, to the east of Kherson … which is encircled and has endured appalling, constant hours of bombardment,” Hull said.

“The deputy mayor there is talking about a humanitarian catastrophe unfolding, he said the Russians are using artillery, multiple launch rocket systems, air strikes and tactical rocket attacks on the city,” he added.

“The city is said to be cut off from heat, electricity and mobile and internet connectivity, so its really increasingly difficult to know what exactly is going on (there).”

Warning to Kyiv residents

On Tuesday 1, 2022, Russia had warned Kyiv residents to flee their homes while it rained rockets down on Kharkiv, as its military commanders who had failed to achieve a quick victory shifted their tactics to intensify the bombardment of Ukrainian cities.

With an armoured column miles long bearing down on the capital, Russia’s defence ministry said it was planning to strike targets in Kyiv used by Ukraine’s security service. Residents near such sites should evacuate their homes, it warned, while giving no information about where in the city of 3 million people those targets were located.

Rocket strikes on Kharkiv killed at least 10 people and wounded 35, Ukrainian Interior Ministry adviser Anton Herashchenko said. Similar strikes had killed and wounded dozens in the city the previous day.