Russia is feared to be readying a massive assault on Kyiv after a 40-mile convoy of tanks, troops and artillery broke up and redeployed to surround the Ukrainian capital. 

Howitzers have been towed into position to open fire, as the convoy fanned out into the forests and towns near Kyiv, which is braced for attack. 

Satellite imagery shows armoured units deploying but what are the chances of Putin’s exhausted troops laying siege to the Ukrainian capital? 

Dominic Nicholls analyses how Russia’s weakened forces are “reposturing” for an assault. In other developments:

Fact checking

The propaganda war took an alarming turn as Russia called a UN Security Council meeting to accuse Ukraine of housing US labs that are developing bio-agents to target specific ethnic groups. 

Sarah Knapton fact checks Moscow’s claims. 

In Britain, Liz Truss has announced that 386 Russian politicians have been sanctioned following President Putin’s invasion. 

All are members of the Russian Duma, the lower house of the country’s parliament, and voted to recognise the Ukrainian regions of Luhansk and Donetsk as “independent”. 

Tobias Elwood says it is time to put the Government on a Cold War footing. 

Joe Biden vowed Russia would pay a “severe price” if it used chemical weapons. 

However, the US President again ruled out any direct intervention by the US to halt the invasion, warning that such conflict “is World War III”. 

Telegraph readers have given their view on sanctions. 

However, Matthew Lynn outlines three ways the Ukraine war could crash the financial system.

Boobytrapped body

Amid the huge suffering inflicted on the Ukrainian people, perhaps there are some lines Russian troops will not cross. 

A Russian soldier stopped a Ukrainian priest from approaching the boobytrapped body of a mayor who had been killed by invading troops. 

The soldier disarmed the suspected mine on Yuri Prilipko’s body and helped the cleric load the corpse onto a wheelbarrow in an apparent change of heart. 

Mr Prilipko was driving down the central street of the occupied town of Hostomel on March 7 when a column of Russian vehicles opened fire on the car, which was carrying four passengers and delivering food and medicine. 

Mr Prilipko’s daughter, Nadiya, said he was shot by snipers, before his body was booby trapped and the Russian soldier intervened.

War in Ukraine: Comment and analysis

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