Russian missiles struck the TV tower in Kyiv, which is located near a memorial for the victims of the Babyn Yar Holocaust massacre, the Ukrainian government said on March 1 as Russian forces also bombarded the central square in Kharkiv and other civilian sites in the eastern city.
Ukraine's Interior Ministry posted a photo of clouds of smoke around the TV tower. The nearby Babyn Yar memorial center was dedicated just last year to mark the 80th anniversary of the infamous mass slaughter of Jews by the Nazis.
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Local media reported that there were several explosions near the TV tower and that Ukrainian TV channels stopped broadcasting shortly afterward.
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President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Twitter that at least five people died in the strike that hit the TV tower and he expressed outrage that it hit close to the memorial commemorating the deaths of tens of thousands of Jewish men, women, and children who were killed at the Babyn Yar ravine in 1941 soon after the Nazis occupied the city.
"To the world: what is the point of saying "never again" for 80 years, if the world stays silent when a bomb drops on the same site of Babyn Yar? At least 5 killed. History repeating…" Zelenskiy said on Twitter.
A spokesman for the memorial said a Jewish cemetery at the site was damaged, but the extent would not be clear until daylight. Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid denounced the incident and said Israel would help repair any damage.
“We call for preserving and respecting the sanctity of the site,” he said on Twitter.
Shortly after reports of the attacks, Zelenskiy spoke by phone with U.S. President Joe Biden.
"The American leadership on anti-Russian sanctions and defense assistance to Ukraine was discussed. We must stop the aggressor as soon as possible. Thank you for your support!" Zelenskiy said on Twitter.
A White House official said the two leaders spoke for about 30 minutes. Biden is scheduled to deliver the State of the Union address later on March 1.
Zelenskiy also gave an interview to Reuters and CNN in which he said Russia must "first stop bombing people" before peace talks could make any headway. Zelenskiy also urged NATO members to impose a no-fly zone to stop Russia's air force.
The attacks on Kyiv and Kharkiv came as a convoy of artillery and armored vehicles extending more than 65 kilometers massed outside Kyiv.
Zelenskiy condemned the bombardment of Kharkiv as a war crime and act of terror in a video statement following the deadly attack that targeted the northwestern regional capital's central square and struck the city administration building.
"After such an attack, Russia is a terrorist country," Zelenskiy said.
Emergency services reported that at least 10 people were killed in the attack, which came after dozens were killed by Russian shelling a day earlier. Moscow has repeatedly claimed that it is not targeting civilian areas during what it calls its "military operation" in Ukraine, which has entered its sixth day.
Satellite images showed that the convoy that has been steadily approaching Kyiv was within kilometers of the city in what Ukraine's armed forces see as an attempt to surround and take control of the country's capital.
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Russia's Defense Ministry announced on March 1 that Russian forces would strike Ukrainian security service infrastructure and a psychological operations center in Kyiv and advised residents living near such targets to leave their homes.
Zelenskiy also challenged European lawmakers to "prove" they stand with Ukraine. Speaking on March 1 via videolink to the European Parliament a day after Ukraine made an official request to join the European Union, Zelenskiy said in an impassioned plea that his country had proven its strength in six days of resistance to Russia's unprovoked invasion.
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"The European Union is going to be much stronger with us, that's for sure. Without you, Ukraine is going to be alone," Zelenskiy said.
"Do prove that you are with us. Do prove that you will not let us go. Do prove that you are indeed Europeans and then life will win over death and light will win over darkness," he added.
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Ukraine's air force reported that five Russian fighter planes and a helicopter had been shot down during aerial attacks over cities outside the capital on February 28, although the information could not be independently verified.
The air force command also said that a Russian cruise missile had been destroyed by a Buk anti-missile system and that Ukrainian jets had struck columns of Russian armored vehicles in the Kyiv and neighboring Zhytomyr regions.
Ukrainian warplanes also reportedly dropped bombs and fired missiles at Russian forces in areas outside Kyiv.
Video images of fighting in Kharkiv on February 28 showed residential areas being shelled and apartment buildings shaken by powerful explosions. Reports that the northeastern city had been heavily bombarded had tempered optimism of an agreement.
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Interior Ministry adviser Anton Herashchenko has said dozens of people were killed in the February 28 rocket strikes. On March 1, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell described the attacks on Kharkiv as a war violation.
"The shelling against civilian infrastructure yesterday [February 28] in Kharkiv violates the laws of war," Borrell said after a call with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. "The EU stands unwavering at the side of Ukraine in these dramatic moments."
Elsewhere in Ukraine, the head of the Sumy region, Dmytro Zhyvytskyy, wrote on Facebook on March 1 that more than 70 Ukrainian servicemen were killed when Russian troops shelled a military base in the town of Okhtyrka, located between Kharkiv and Kyiv.
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In Kherson, a city located just northwest of the Crimean Peninsula illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, Mayor Ihor Кolykhayev wrote on Facebook that the Russian military was setting up checkpoints at the entrances to the city. Kolykhayev vowed that "Kherson has been and will stay Ukrainian."
Mariupol has been left without electricity following attacks by Russian forces, according to Donetsk region head Pavlo Kyrylenko, who wrote on Facebook on March 1 that Ukrainian forces still held the Azov Sea port city.
The head of the separatists in the eastern region, Denis Pushilin, said that the goal was to encircle the strategically important city by the end of the day.
On March 1, Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman Ihor Konashenkov said that separatist forces had "joined the military units of the armed forces of the Russian Federation, which took control of the regions of Ukraine along the coast of the Sea of Azov."