FOG BLOG RUSSIAN INVASION OF UKRAINE LOG: RUSSIAN FORCES MOVING CLOSER TO UKRAINE CAPITAL OF KYIV!

Russian forces move closer to Kyiv as civilian evacuations of towns and villages come under threat.......Russian forces appear to have made progress from north-east Ukraine in their slow fight to reach the capital, Kyiv, while one city already under siege was shelled so heavily residents could not bury the growing number of dead.

Key points:

• The southern port city of Mariupol has been cut off, with the death toll passing 1,500

• A mosque in Mariupol has been attacked by Russian forces, according to Ukraine's foreign ministry

• Five bodies were found in a shelled apartment building in the city of Kharkiv

In past offensives in Syria and Chechnya, Russia's strategy was to crush armed resistance with sustained air strikes and shelling that levelled population centres.

That kind of assault has cut off Ukraine's southern port city of Mariupol, and a similar fate could await Kyiv and other parts of the country if the war continues.

In Mariupol, unceasing barrages have thwarted repeated attempts to bring in food and water and to evacuate trapped civilians.

Mariupol's death toll has passed 1,500 in 12 days of attacks, the Mayor's office said.

A strike on a maternity hospital in the city of 446,000 this week that killed three people sparked international outrage and war-crime allegations.