It’s day eight of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Just past midnight in Kyiv, the air raid siren blared yet again. The quiet in the dead of night was shattered by several large explosions.
This is the soundtrack of this city now. In a capital where many can’t sleep, images were posted on social media of a huge orange fireball lighting the sky.
The day dawned very cold, grey. It’s another morning where residents of Kyiv hear that Moscow's mammoth armoured convoy on the edge of city is still stalled.
"The column has made little discernible progress in over three days," Ukraine’s defence ministry said in a statement.
Reports speak of possible shortages of food and fuel, of wheels stuck in the mud, of restive Russian forces, and Ukrainian resistance.
On the rim of a beleaguered city, there are reports of heavy fighting and roads are strewn with burnt and blackened carcasses of military vehicles.
Across Ukraine, mayors send updates of their cities' desperate plight.
Mayor Igor Kolykhaiev, who once presided over the southern port city of Kherson, posted a message on Facebook informing residents that the Ukrainian flag still flies over their city, but there were no Ukrainian forces.
He told invading troops, who now control the first major city, "not to shoot people".
Mayor Vadym Boychenko of Mariupol, now under intense shelling and a deepening humanitarian catastrophe, reported that Russian attacks were being repelled "with dignity".
More than a million Ukrainians have fled; many more keep fighting as Russia advances and attacks with devastating force in the north, east, and south of the country.
