{O/C} Following a fumbled start of the Ukraine war, a 40-mile convoy of Russian vehicles is threatening to enter the capital, Kiev.
This comes as world leaders scramble to call a halt to the bloody fighting.
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Tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians spent another night hunkering down in underground bunkers to flee rocket shrapnel resulting from what is described as Russia's slaughter.
After that phalanx of Russian troops disappeared comes a convoy of Russian tanks and various vehicles near Ukraine's capital, Kiev, stretching for 40 miles. Satellite images have the convoy heading towards Kiev, prompting more women and children to flee.
Not saving his own skin, Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, accused Russia of tightening the screws on Ukraine by this menacing convoy. He said Ukraine will not concede defeat anytime soon, provided that Russia is pummelling Ukraine with yet another barrage of rocket artillery.
Putin is now running the gauntlet of Western leaders, including Zelenskyy, following sporadic missile strikes in Kharkiv. The Ukrainian leader likened the shelling on the outskirts of Kharkiv to war atrocities, saying Putin's savage assaults are unforgivable.
Vowing Ukraine will not go it alone, the embattled Ukrainian leader moved to solidify its ties to the West by applying to enter the European Union. A move that will not sit well with Putin, who has long maintained Ukraine must remain politically neutral.
Meantime, Ukrainians battened down the hatches, stocking up on groceries after a curfew over the weekend, given intensified shelling is par for the course.
Although Ukraine's President promised to fight till the bitter end, Russia and Ukraine held five hours of inconclusive talks near the Belarusian border that yielded anything but a ceasefire. Yet with word cluster munitions may have been involved in the latest bombardment, the talks ended only with an agreement to a second round of negotiations to halt the grisly invasion.
More innocent deaths and maiming by the day leave no doubt that Ukraine has plunged deep into this abyss of violence.
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