The Russian forces, in their third week of military aggression on Ukraine, have pounded civilian areas in several Ukrainian cities as they moved in closer to Kyiv, satellite images show.
The latest satellite images shared by Maxar Technologies, a private US company, show Russian military units continuing to deploy closer to Kyiv and actively firing artillery toward residential areas.
Multispectral satellite images of an artillery battalion actively firing in a southeasterly direction. (high res: here)
One of the images shows artillery battalion actively firing in a southeasterly direction. While the targets are not confirmed, multiple homes and buildings can be seen on fire and widespread damage and impact craters are seen throughout the town of Moschun, northwest of Kyiv and approximately seven kilometers southeast of the artillery deployment.
Multispectral and natural color images showing destroyed homes, impact craters and fires in town of Moschun. (high res: here)
However, multispectral imagery bands on the WorldView-2 satellite establish a bright muzzle flash coming from one of the artillery guns while smoke comes from five other guns, suggesting that they also recently fired.
People and a long line of cars are seen trying to leave Kyiv, in another image.
Multispectral and natural color images showing destroyed homes, impact craters and fires in town of Moschun. (high res: here)
With the Russian assault in its third week, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who has rallied his people with a series of addresses from Kyiv, said Ukraine had "already reached a strategic turning point". "It is impossible to say how many days we still have (ahead of us) to free Ukrainian land. But we can say we will do it," he said. "We are already moving towards our goal, our victory."
People and long line of cars trying to leave Kyiv. (high res: here)
Keen to avoid a direct military intervention in non-NATO Ukraine that they fear could trigger World War III, the US and its allies on Friday announced further steps to increase the economic pressure on the Kremlin to rein in its forces.
More than two and a half million people have fled the "senseless war" in Ukraine, the UN says -- more than half to Poland.
