Update(10:53amET): Russia's military is urging civilians to leave areas near Ukrainian army bases and communications facilities in Kiev, warning that it is now conducting strikes against these specified targets. 

"In order to suppress information attacks against Russia, the technological facilities of the SBU and the 72nd main PSO center in Kyiv will be hit with high-precision weapons," the Russian MoD statement said according to TASS. "We call on Ukrainian citizens attracted by Ukrainian nationalists to carry out provocations against Russia, as well as residents of Kyiv living near relay nodes leave their homes."

Based on widely circulating footage, it appears the invading Russian forces have begun to take out communications towers and antennas, as well as Ukrainian military infrastructure - also amid continuing reports that residential areas are increasingly under threat amid the siege of Kiev.

A massive TV tower in Kiev has been hit, with the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs confirming of some national broadcasts:

"The channels will not work for a while," the ministry said in its statement. "The backup broadcasting of some channels will be enabled in the near future."

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has meanwhile appealed to the UN Human Rights Council to "strip Russia" of its membership on the UNHRC. According to the AFP, Blinken said:

Putin success in ousting Ukraine government would see rights, humanitarian crises 'only get worse', Blinken tells UN rights council

US defense officials on Tuesday said they believe Russia's advance on Kiev has been slowing due to fuel and supply challenges.

There's been confusion over the prior reported EU jets to Ukraine...

For the past week there have also been conflicting reports as to the degree of Belarus' active participation on the ground in Russia's invasion:

• MILITARY UNITS HAVE MOVED FROM BASES BUT COUNTRY COULD MOBILISE IN 2-3 DAYS IN EVENT OF DANGER - RIA CITES BELTA
• LUKASHENKO SAYS NO BELARUS MILITARY UNITS HAVE MOVED FROM BASES BUT COUNTRY COULD MOBILISE IN 2-3 DAYS IN EVENT OF DANGER - RIA CITES BELTA

* * *

"Kyiv is special. If we protect Kyiv, we will protect the state. This is the heart of our country, and it must keep beating," Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday. He gave a stirring video address to European parliament, the day after he signed a formal application for Ukraine seeking EU membership.

"Our people are motivated and we are fighting for freedoms and our lives," Zelensky said. "We are fighting for our survival," he added while urging the body to "prove" that they stand with Ukraine. This as he's urging both NATO and the US to impose a No-Fly Zone, an appeal which both so far have rejected. 

Satellite imagery being widely reported on Tuesday morning suggests a massive column of Russian infantry many miles in length is now en route ready to bear down to the Ukrainian capital. Estimates as to its size have varied, but there's consensus it's at least many, possibly dozens of miles, long. 

CNN describes it as "A massive 40-mile-long Russian military convoy — made up of armored vehicles, tanks, towed artillery and other logistical vehicles — has reached the outskirts of Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, according to satellite images from Maxar Technologies."

Kiev officials have said the city has erected fortifications, while much of the civilian population has sought the safety of shelters or underground bunkers ahead of what's expected to be a large-scale final Russian assault, also after two other large cities have in the past days come under heavy rocket barrage and shelling. 

The mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, warned the people of the city as well as the world on Tuesday that "the enemy is on the outskirts of the capital," and emphasized that national forces are "preparing to defend Kyiv."

“Our armed forces, Territorial Defense Forces, are fighting heroically for our land," Klitschko said. "Fortifications and checkpoints have been built at the entrances to the city. I ask everyone to keep calm. Do not go outside unnecessarily and stay in shelters in case of alarm," he added.

Moscow has meanwhile reaffirmed that its military operation will not stop until it meets the objectives of "demilitarizing" Ukraine. However, talks just inside Belarus on Monday between a Ukrainian delegation and Russian delegation left agreeing to keep talking. Those talks lasted a reported five hours.

The Russian side has since confirmed that this second round of potential ceasefire talks will take place Wednesday, March 2. Ukrainian and Russian media are confirming the next round:

Another Ukrainian media outlet, Glavkom, citing sources in the Ukrainian delegation, disclosed the terms advanced by the sides during the first meeting. It said that Russia allegedly demanded Ukraine commit to paper its off-bloc status at the parliamentary level and organize a referendum on this matter. Apart from that, the Russian side demanded Ukraine recognize the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics in the administrative borders of the corresponding regions and drop its demand that Crimea should be returned to Ukraine. Ukraine, according to Glavkom, demanded a ceasefire and withdrawal of Russian troops from its territory.

At the same time, on an international level communications between Russia and the West appear to be spiraling toward non-existent. With the European airspace closure around Russia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov opted to address an assembly of the UN Human Rights Council remotely, instead of traveling. 

More and more media pundits and US officials have begun to call for a West-imposed No Fly Zone:

Even the video speech prompted a mass-walkout, as Fox described:

As soon as the U.N. president turns over the floor to Lavrov, dozens of diplomats stand and leave the meeting chamber without a word.

Lavrov said he was “compelled” to make his address by video after the European Union restricted his “freedom of movement.”

Currently Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov is warning that Russia has preparations underway to launch a "large-scale information and psychological operation" against Ukraine, Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said Tuesday. "Its goal is to break the resistance of Ukrainians and the Ukrainian army with lies," Reznikov said in the statement.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/miles-long-russian-infantry-tank-convoy-bears-down-kiev-next-ceasefire-talks-expected