Sky Stadium is being set up as a new collection site for rapid antigen tests in Wellington as long queues form at existing sites, causing traffic jams on State Highway 1. This morning a Petone resident said he couldn’t get out of…

A district court judge hopes that sentencing a violent offender to home detention in a quiet Nelson village complex might help him improve his ways.Cain Woodford was today sentenced to 10 months’ home detention in the Blenheim District…

Lack of progress on Westport flood protection can be attributed to “insufficient appetite” to actually get on and do it, says the West Coast Regional Council as it today defended its role in an open letter to Westport residents.The…

Riot police have successfully forced occupiers off Parliament’s front lawn, but fresh violence has emerged as protesters attack officers at the nearby Cenotaph.Police are blocking off the road and footpath in between the Cenotaph…

Flu-like symptoms have long been the common key marker in those with Covid-19 but now a new symptom has emerged. Children, and some adults, infected with the virus are increasingly presenting with gastro symptoms, including diarrhoea,…

Auckland-based rugby league legend and TV personality Manu Vatuvei has been sentenced to three years and seven months’ prison for his role in a methamphetamine smuggling syndicate. The former Warriors star, whose 36th birthday is…

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has addressed the “misinformation and conspiracy theories” among protesters as NZ hit a record 22,152 new community cases of Covid-19 today.Ardern says the protesters had been given ample opportunity…

A major police operation to clear the occupation at Parliament has given “much-needed oxygen” to Wellington businesses, while allowing council to properly assess any wastewater contamination. Police moved in on anti-mandate protesters…

The giant 64-kilometre-long Russian convoy of tanks and armoured vehicles carrying an estimated 15,000 soldiers is slowly closing in on Kyiv, as Moscow stepped up bloody and deadly attacks on crowded areas in Ukraine.

Tracked by satellite images, the snaking convoy has been slowed by logistical issues, according to a senior US defence official.

Currently 28 kilometres north of Kyiv, the convoy has been hampered by fuel and food shortages, the official told US media outlet NPR.

READ MORE: The Stinger missile worked against the Russians in Afghanistan in the 1980s, but will it in Ukraine?

It is believed the column of hundreds of tanks, towed artillery, armoured and logistical vehicles has been ordered towards Kyiv to try and occupy the Ukrainian capital.

The convoy, which sometimes spans three lanes wide and covers the entire road, has travelled south from Belarus, Russia's strategic ally to Ukraine's north.

For weeks prior to the invasion, Russia amassed its forces in Belarus.

Hundreds of Russian military vehicles, aircraft and helicopters were moved to the former Soviet state to participate in what the two allies described as joint exercises.

But after the maneuvers ended, the Russian forces didn't go home.

"Nobody will forgive. Nobody will forget," vowed President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in the aftermath of further sustained attacks, including bloodshed on the square in Kharkiv.

Ukrainian authorities said five people were killed in the attack on the TV tower, which is a few kilometres from central Kyiv and a short walk from numerous apartment buildings.

A TV control room and a power substation were hit, and at least some Ukrainian channels briefly stopped broadcasting, officials said.

Zelenskyy's office also reported a powerful missile attack on the site of the Babyn Yar Holocaust memorial, near the tower.

Many military experts worry that Russia may be shifting tactics. Moscow's strategy in Chechnya and Syria was to use artillery and air bombardments to pulverise cities and crush fighters' resolve.

READ MORE: NATO chief sees no need to change nuclear alert level

READ MORE: CNN reporter discovers he is crouching by live grenade while on air

The attack on the TV tower came after Russia's Defence Ministry announced it would target transmission facilities in the capital used by Ukraine's intelligence agency.

It urged people living near such places to leave their homes.

Overall death tolls from the fighting remained unclear, but a senior Western intelligence official estimated more than 5000 Russian soldiers had been captured or killed.

And Russian President Vladimir Putin's forces pressed their attack on other towns and cities across the country, including at or near the strategic ports of Odesa and Mariupol in the south.

Day six of the biggest ground war in Europe since World War II found Russia increasingly isolated, beset by tough sanctions that have thrown its economy into disarray and left the country practically friendless, apart from a few nations like China and Belarus.

In Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-biggest city, with a population of about 1.5 million, at least six people were killed when the region's Soviet-era administrative building was hit.

Explosions tore through residential areas, and a maternity ward was moved to an underground shelter.

READ MORE: Why Putin may use 'vacuum bomb' in Ukraine

Kharkiv's Freedom Square — Ukraine's largest plaza, and the nucleus of public life for the city — was struck with what was believed to be a missile, in an attack seen by many Ukrainians as brazen evidence that the Russian invasion wasn't just about hitting military targets but also about breaking their spirits.

The strike blew out windows and walls of buildings that ring the massive central square, which was piled high with debris and dust.

Inside one building, chunks of plaster were scattered, and doors, ripped from their hinges, lay across hallways.

"People are under the ruins. We have pulled out bodies," said Yevhen Vasylenko, a representative of the Emergency Situations Ministry in Kharkiv region.

In addition to the six killed, 20 were wounded in the strike, he said.

Mr Zelenskyy pronounced the attack on the main square "frank, undisguised terror," blaming a Russian missile and calling it a war crime.

"This is state terrorism of the Russian Federation," he said.

He said 16 children had been killed around Ukraine on Monday, and he mocked Russia's claim that it is going after only military targets.

"Where are the children, what kind of military factories do they work at? What tanks are they going at, launching cruise missiles?" Mr Zelenskyy said.

In a worrying development, Human Rights Watch said it documented a cluster bomb attack outside a hospital in Ukraine's east in recent days.

Local residents also reported the use of the weapons in Kharkiv and the village of Kiyanka, though there was no independent confirmation.

If confirmed, that would represent a worrying new level of brutality in the war and could lead to even further isolation of Russia.

The Kremlin denied on Tuesday that it has used such weapons.

The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor said he plans to open an investigation into possible war crimes in the invasion.

Unbowed by Western condemnation, Russian officials upped their threats of escalation, days after raising the spectre of a nuclear attack.

A top Kremlin official warned that the West's "economic war" against Russia could turn into a "real one."

The first talks on Monday between an outgunned Ukraine and nuclear-armed Russia yielded no stop in the fighting, though the two sides agreed to another meeting in the coming days.

Throughout the country, many Ukrainian civilians spent another night huddled in shelters, basements or corridors.

More than a half-million people have fled the country, and the UN human rights office said it has recorded the deaths of 136 civilians. The real toll is believed to be far higher.

"It is a nightmare, and it seizes you from the inside very strongly. This cannot be explained with words," said Kharkiv resident Ekaterina Babenko, taking shelter in a basement with neighbours for a fifth straight day.

"We have small children, elderly people and frankly speaking it is very frightening."

Russian strikes on Mariupol seriously wounded several people on Tuesday, and at checkpoint outside the Black Sea city of Odesa, the body of a man lay sprawled on a highway next a car whose back seat was covered in blood.

A Ukrainian military official said Belarusian troops joined the war on Tuesday in the Chernihiv region in the north, without providing details.

But just before that, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said his country had no plans to join the fight.

One after the other, explosions burst through a residential area of Kharkiv in one video verified by the AP.

In the background, a man pleaded with a woman to leave, and a woman cried.

Determined for life to go on despite the attacks, hospital workers transferred a Kharkiv maternity ward to a bomb shelter.

Amid makeshift electrical sockets and mattresses piled up against the walls, pregnant women paced the crowded space, accompanied by the cries of dozens of newborns.

Russia's goals in hitting central Kharkiv were not immediately clear.

Western officials speculated that it is trying to pull in Ukrainian forces to defend the city while a larger Russian force encircles Kyiv.

Increasing tensions in Kyiv, Russia's Defence Ministry announced it will target transmission facilities in the capital used by Ukraine's intelligence agency with unspecified strikes, and urged people living near such sites to leave their homes.

Flames shot up from a military base northeast of Kyiv, in the suburb of Brovary, in footage taken from a car driving past. In another video verified by AP, a passenger pleaded with the driver, "Misha, we need to drive quickly as they'll strike again."

The Russian military's movements have been stalled by fierce resistance on the ground and a surprising inability to dominate Ukraine's airspace.

Ukrainians used whatever they had on hand to try to stop the Russian advance: On a highway between Odesa and Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine, residents piled tractor tires filled with sand and topped with sandbags to block Russian military convoys.

With Associated Press

Shoppers will soon be able to get their groceries delivered by drone in an Australian-first trial by Coles.

The supermarket will conduct the trial for customers living in select ACT suburbs, In partnership with drone delivery service Wing,

More than 250 items will be available to be delivered via drone, including bread, fresh produce, snacks, healthcare items, toilet paper and kitchen essentials.

They will arrive in as little as ten minutes.

READ MORE: Prime Minister Scott Morrison tests positive for COVID-19

The drone delivery pilot will only be available to customers in the suburbs of: Crace (2911), Palmerston (2913), Franklin (2913), Harrison (2914), Mitchell (2911), Giralang (2617), and Kaleen (2617).

READ MORE: COVID-19 costs Coles more than $150 million in six months

Customers will be asked to order via the Wing app, after which the order will be picked and packed for delivery by the drone.

When the drone arrives at the customer's address, it will hover in the air and slowly lower the package to the ground for what Coles says will be a "contactless delivery".

It's estimated most deliveries will typically take about 10 minutes or less.

READ MORE: Redbacks found in grapes bought at two different Coles stores

Coles' Chief Executive of eCommerce Ben Hassing said the adoption of drones will reduce the workload currently placed on delivery trucks.

"We are passionate about finding innovative ways to help our customers to shop with us and we aim to deliver anytime, anywhere, anyhow shopping," Mr Hassing said.

"By partnering with Wing, we're able to offer our online customers another convenient option to purchase the Coles items they know and love and get them delivered straight to their door."

READ MORE: Relief for shoppers as RAT supplies swell in supermarkets

While there will be no minimum spend and no delivery fee, there will be time constraints: Wing only operates its drone between 8am and 4:30pm on weekdays and Saturday, and 9am to 4pm on Sundays.

Not all products available in Coles supermarkets will be available for drone delivery.

Simon Rossi, General Manager of Wing Australia, said drone deliveries are on the rise around the nation.

READ MORE: Coles' hugely popular second-hand iPhone sale returns

"Whether you've run out of milk and eggs for breakfast, forgotten to pick up a loaf of bread for school lunches, or are just after a fresh 'grab and go' snack, customers in our delivery service area in Canberra can now get those urgent items they need in a hurry, delivered by drone," Mr Rossi said.

"In the last year we've seen a significant increase in use of our on-demand drone delivery service, with many customers finding the service especially useful as they stayed home, and relied on our contactless delivery service to deliver the items they needed.

"Wing made more than 100,000 deliveries in Australia in 2021, and strong demand for drone delivery has continued in 2022. Wing has already made more than 30,000 deliveries in Australia this year."