(CNN)A miles-long convoy of Russian military vehicles is bearing down on the Ukrainian capital, new satellite imagery shows, as Moscow continues to ramp up its assault on Kyiv despite preparing for negotiations with Ukrainian representatives.
Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine is now entering into its fifth day, with its troops facing determined resistance across the country, frustrating Moscow’s efforts to swiftly take control of key cities.
Monday’s talks, which are due to be held “without preconditions” on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border, would mark the two sides’ first public contact since war began.
In a public address Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy downplayed the significance of the talks. “I do not really believe in the result of this meeting, but let them try, so that no citizen of Ukraine would have any doubt that I, as President, did not try to stop the war when there was even a small chance,” Zelensky said.
But while Ukrainians have attached little hope in the talks yielding a pathway to peace, the opportunities to deescalate the conflict appear to be quickly shrinking.
As NATO allies pledged increased weaponry and assistance to embattled Ukrainian forces and international sanctions on Russia begin to tighten, Putin on Sunday raised the stakes by ordering his country’s nuclear forces to be placed on high alert.
Later on Sunday, Belarus renounced its non-nuclear status in a referendum, after the former Soviet nation became a launch pad for Russia’s invasion in Ukraine last week.
The vote in favor of a new constitution could theoretically allow Russia to place nuclear weapons back in Belarus for the first time since the fall of the Soviet Union, when Belarus gave up its stockpile and became a nuclear free zone.
Addressing journalists at a polling station in Minsk, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said he could ask Putin to “return the nuclear weapons” Belarus gave away if the West transfers any nuclear weapons to Poland or Lithuania.
Ukrainian intelligence also indicated Belarus could be preparing to “participate directly” in the invasion of Ukraine, according to two sources close to the Ukrainian government.
Lukashenko said last week that Belarusian troops could join the invasion “if it becomes necessary.”
So far, despite being far better equipped, Russia has been unable to convert its numerical superiority into territorial gains, as ordinary Ukrainians and reservists join efforts to defend their families and homes.
Ukraine said its air force shot down a cruise missile launched at the city from Belarus Sunday, and claimed a successful drone attack against against a Russian BUK surface-to-air missile system near the capital.
But Western military assessments caution that Ukrainian forces cannot holdout indefinitely. On Sunday, new satellite images released by Maxar Technologies showed a Russian military convoy stretching at least three miles long on a road near Ivankiv, about 40 miles (60 kilometers) northwest of the Ukrainian capital. Maxar identified fuel and logistical trucks, in addition to tanks, infantry vehicles and self-propelled artillery among the vehicles in the convoy.
And while Ukrainian troops appear to be holding ground in the country’s north, Russian forces have made some advances to the south. On Sunday Russian troops took control of Berdyansk — a port city of 100,000 people on Ukraine’s southern coast, and the site of a small naval base.
The ongoing Russian assault has inflicted widespread suffering and casualties on the Ukrainian people, forcing 368,000 people to flee the country, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The number of known civilians killed in Ukraine stands at 352, with 14 of those children, Ukraine’s Ministry of Interior said.
Support for Ukraine grows
From the removal of Russian liquor and other products from shelves around the US and Canada, to several European countries refusing to play Russia in international football matches, support for Ukraine against the Russian invasion is growing.
European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in an interview Sunday the bloc wanted Ukraine to join: “They’re one of us,” she said. Ukraine is not an official candidate for EU accession and joining is a complex and lengthy process.
The EU threw its support behind the country, committing for the first time in its history to finance the purchase and delivery of weapons and equipment to a country under attack. That includes $450 million to provide arms and lethal assistance to Ukraine and $50 million in non-lethal assistance, top diplomat Josep Borell said.
Russia’s invasion and aviation bans are creating huge no-go areas in the sky, with the EU the latest to close its airspace to Russian planes, including the private jets of oligarchs, following similar moves by the Canada and the UK.
Meanwhile, the UK said it will provide an additional $53 million in humanitarian aid to Ukraine and British leaders plan to introduce legislation in Parliament aimed at clamping down on Russian money laundering and fraud.
And Australian travel bans and targeted financial sanctions against Putin and senior members of his government went into effect Monday, the country’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed in a statement.
CNN’s Artemis Moshtaghian, Richard Roth, Pete Muntean, Katharina Krebs, Olya Voinovich, Katie Polglase, Gianluca Mezzofiore, Josh Pennington, Niamh Kennedy, Hannah Ritchie, Ivana Kottasová and Laura Smith-Spark contributed reporting.
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