Vladimir Putin’s 40-mile column of killing machines snake through Ukraine – ready to unleash carnage in Kyiv

A 40-MILE column of Vladimir Putin’s killing machines snakes through Ukraine yesterday — ready to unleash carnage in Kyiv. Tanks and armoured vehicles, many towing artillery and mobile rocket launchers, had rumbled to within 17 miles of the besieged capital last night. AFPA satellite image shows Vladimir Putin’s column of tanks in Ivankiv, Ukraine[/caption] EPATanks and armoured vehicles, many towing artillery and mobile rocket launchers are within 17 miles of capital Kyiv[/caption] ReutersA blast is seen at one of the main TV towers in Kyiv[/caption] As missile attacks on Ukraine intensified, one strike hit the landmark Kyiv TV Tower and left at least five people dead. The blast spread to the nearby site of the horrific Babyn Yar massacre, where Nazis executed 33,771 Jews in just two days in September 1941. Debris damaged the memorial to the atrocity and prompted a furious response from Ukrainians. The terrifying force now moving in on their capital is almost certain to fan out to encircle the city in the coming days before blasting its way through civilian neighbourhoods in a bloody final push. But Ukraine’s hero president Volodymyr Zelenskyy remained defiant yesterday as he awaited the onslaught, declaring: “We will neutralise them all.” Speaking from his bunker, he went on to deliver a moving appeal for support — and for his embattled nation to be fast-tracked for EU membership. A translator could be heard struggling to fight back tears as Mr Zelenskyy accused Russia of state terrorism and war crimes. Most read in The Sun OH BROW I'm a mum and get threatened with social services over having UK's biggest EYEBROWS PUTINY! 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We have proven that, as a minimum, we are the same as you.” Meanwhile, Ukraine was facing a further onslaught from northern neighbour Belarus after more weasel words from its Putin puppet president Aleksandr Lukashenko. Just hours after he had insisted he would not take part in the war, his country’s parliament announced that the state was joining forces with Russian allies in Ukraine’s Chernihiv region. Images also revealed ground force deployments and helicopter units in southern Belarus, less than 20 miles north of the Ukrainian border. Belarus has even ditched its non-nuclear status — making way for a possible deployment of Russian nuclear weapons. ReutersFrustrated Putin is feared to have authorised a reckless onslaught to crush the resistance.[/caption] But outgunned Ukrainian soldiers and courageous reservists stood alongside freedom fighters stocked with Molotov cocktails last night, awaiting their enemy. Makeshift barricades made of tyres, trucks and wheelie bins appeared at key intersections where defenders dug in for the night. Russians rolling into the city will be greeted with a hail of bombs, bullets and British NLAW anti-tank missiles, as well as banners declaring: “Russian soldier, go to f***.” It was reported many Russian conscripts had been brainwashed into expecting to be greeted with bouquets rather than bombs. But as he manned a barricade, Kyiv bank worker Viktor Rudnichenko told The Sun: “The only flowers they might get from us will be for their grave.” Frustrated Putin, who had been promised a new puppet government in Kyiv within five days by his cocky commanders, is feared to have authorised a reckless onslaught to crush the resistance. He has been infuriated amid Ukrainian claims 5,710 Russian soldiers have been killed, and 200 taken prisoner. MASSACRE SITE SOME 33,771 Ukrainian Jews were killed by Nazis over 48 hours in Kyiv’s Babyn Yar World War Two massacre in 1941. It was one of the biggest single slaughters of the Holocaust. A grim total of 100,000 Ukrainians eventually died there. Men, women and children — the youngest just two weeks old — were rounded up, forced to strip and marched to a ravine. The Nazis methodically executed the helpless victims with single shots from their fast-action pistols over two days. The bodies toppled into the ravine. Recalling the scene at his trial years later, an SS commander spoke of the “indescribable wailing” echoing across the valley. The following month 50,000 more Jews were slaughtered in the port of Odessa. His enemy also announced that, as of yesterday morning, Russia had lost 29 planes, 29 helicopters, 198 tanks, 77 artillery systems, seven air defence systems, 24 mobile rocket launcher systems, 60 fuel tanks and two gunboats. But the grim toll of civilian deaths in the carnage was rising, as officials reported 352 people had died including 16 children. A further 2,040 civilians were said to have been wounded, including 45 children. Nato’s secretary general Jens Stoltenberg yesterday called on Russia to withdraw its forces. He said: “The Russian assault is totally unacceptable and it is enabled by Belarus. “Russia must immediately stop the war, pull all its forces from Ukraine and engage in good faith in diplomatic efforts.” APUkrainian servicemen stand near a damaged car and an armoured vehicle at a checkpoint in Brovary, Ukraine[/caption] EPAA wounded Ukrainian soldier lies on a bed at a hospital in Brovary near Kyiv[/caption] We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun news desk? Email us at exclusive@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4104. You can WhatsApp us on 07423 720 250. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours Click here to get The Sun newspaper delivered for FREE for the next six weeks.