RUSSIA is feared to be planning another major assault on Ukraine's capital Kyiv, as troops have been pictured moving towards the city.

Satellite images show Russian tanks and other vehicles heading towards Kyiv, while other aerial footage appears to reveal military equipment being stationed outside the capital.

The images from Maxar, which has been monitoring the invasion since the start, were taken close to Antonov Airport, just miles from the city.

A large military convoy can be seen travelling along the main road.

Images appear to show the infamous 40-mile "death convoy" of Russian vehicles stalled near Kyiv for almost two weeks has now "dispersed", as rocket artillery is moved into firing positions for an assault on the city.

The huge column was first seen on February 28 after grinding to a halt on the main highway leading south to the capital, after being hit by breakdowns, fuel shortages, and supply problems.

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It originally set off from Belarus and has been making its way south towards Kyiv, via Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

However, forces have since been bogged down amid reports of food, fuel, and equipment shortages.

But fresh satellite images taken on Thursday after a break in cloud cover show commanders on the move again, breaking up the column which had become vulnerable to Ukraine counterattacks.

Rocket artillery and supply trucks were pictured taking up firing positions in fields outside Berestyanka, a small town 30 miles north of Kyiv, their tyre tracks visible in the countryside.

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While not far away in Lubyanka, vehicles were seen parked in forests as part of a possible camouflage attempt.

An estimated 15,000 troops along with fuel tankers and ammunition trucks are believed to be in the convoy.

It comes as Kyiv's mayor, former world heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, said that his city "has been turned into a fortress" ahead of another feared Russian onslaught.

Around 2 million people, more than half of the city's residents, are now believed to have evacuated.

Russian forces attacked from the west and east late on Wednesday and early on Thursday, as the encirclement of Kyiv appears to be underway.

But a defiant Mayor Klitschko warned the Russians would not find their assault on the capital straightforward.

"Every street, every house is being fortified, the territorial defence is joining," he said in a televised interview on Thursday.

"Even people who in their lives never intended to change their clothes, now they are in uniform with machine guns in their hands."

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Russian troops launched two major attacks over the past two days – one on the devastated western city of Irpin, and the other on the eastern district of Brovary.

They have continued to face fierce resistance from Ukraine's forces.

Video shows the moment Russian tanks and armoured vehicles were bombarded in a fierce Ukrainian ambush and forced to turn back temporarily.

Russian tank commander Colonel Andrei Zakharov was reportedly killed in the attack at Brovary, the latest of Putin's top military brass to die in the invasion of Ukraine.

Colonel Zakharov had been awarded the Order of Courage by Vladimir Putin in 2016.

Vadym Denysenko, an adviser to Ukraine's interior ministry, said his country's forces had successfully repelled a Russian attempt to cross the Irpin River in the town of Moshchun.

Observers from the Institute for the Study of War claim the battle for Kyiv is now well and truly underway.

Russian tanks are less than nine miles from Ukraine's parliament, according to the Pentagon.

Putin's forces now face a long and bloody mission to take the capital, thought to be the main target of their "special military operation" to topple Ukraine's government and install a pro-Moscow puppet regime.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has remained in Kyiv, warned on Thursday night that Russia appears to be preparing to launch a chemical or biological weapons attack in the country, after repeatedly accusing Ukraine of developing the weapons on its territory.

"We have found if you want to find out Russia's plans, you should look at what Russia is accusing others of," he said.

In an emotional late-night address to his people, he said: "We're the ones being blamed as if we've attacked a peaceful Russia. And what now.

"What does it mean, that we're being accused of preparing chemical attacks? Have you decided to conduct a 'de-chemicalisation' of Ukraine? With what? With ammonia? With phosphorus?"

He went on: "What else have you prepared for us? What do you plan to hit with chemical weapons? A maternity hospital in Maripul? A church in Kharkiv? A children's hospital?"

It comes as…

• Russia has been accused of bombing a maternity hospital – killing three including a girl, 6 – as its bloody campaign continues
• Roman Abramovich has been sanctioned – banning him from selling Chelsea FC
• The club is now in limbo – with a transfer ban and being left unable to offer new deals to their players
• US officials warned Putin could unleash biological weapons as Kharkiv came under siege
• Russia has already been accused of using thermobaric "vacuum bombs" that can rupture people's lungs
• Cities in Ukraine have been reduced to harrowing apocalyptic hellscapes under Putin's merciless bombing
• A heartbroken Ukrainian dad pleaded "forgive me" as his entire family was wiped out by Russian strikes
• Europe's biggest nuclear plant has had its warning systems shut down after being taken over by the Russians

Russia appears to have been completely unprepared for the fierce resistance it has so far faced in Ukraine.

General Dmytro Marchenko of Ukraine's armed forces claimed this week the Russians were leaving the bodies of their dead in the streets in the panic of the invasion.

"It’s unpleasant to say this but their corpses are food for stray dogs," he told The Times.

"We’re not able to retrieve them because of continuing Russian fire in those areas."

But now, there are fears they are attempting to lay siege to Kyiv, encircling the city and cutting off supply and escape routes, while simultaneously shelling it indiscriminately.

Today, Britain has warned Vladimir Putin not to use chemical weapons in Ukraine.

Digital minister Chris Philp urged the Russian tyrant "do not cross that line" amid fears the Kremlin is ready to up its savagery.

It comes amid claims Russian troops in Ukraine have been issued with gas masks.

Ukraine's Ministry of Defence shared pictures of captured Russian gas masks as part of a hoard including World War 2-era helmets and equipment.

Moscow has already started peddling lies that Ukraine is preparing to use chemical weapons and has suggested the US is involved.

Putting out such baseless claims is a classic Kremlin false flag that the regime can later use to try and deny blame for its own atrocities.

Boris Johnson last night said the disinformation campaign was "straight out of the playbook" of a "cynical, barbaric government".

The White House also warned the "absurd propaganda" was simply to create a pretext for ratcheting up its terror campaign on innocent civilians.

This morning Mr Philp warned the West will be ready to respond much more robustly if Russia targets innocent civilians with biological warfare.

He said: "The use of chemical weapons, especially in a war where there are very large numbers of civilians, would be an outrage against humanity.

"I would say to anyone in Russia thinking about this do not cross that line, do not inflict any more misery and suffering on the Ukrainian people.

"It will trigger an increased response from the West, a dramatically increased response, there's no question about that."

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