“The Anglo-Saxons publicly recommend that Ukraine move hostilities onto Russian territory. And supply it with the means to implement this plan,” Margarita Simonyan, editor of the state-run Russia Today news outlet, tweeted Thursday. “What choice are you giving us, idiots? Complete destruction of the remaining Ukraine? Nuclear strike?”

In recent days, residents of the most vulnerable areas have posted videos of apparent explosions and Russian antiaircraft defense rockets streaking into the nighttime sky.

“I think this is coming here,” one anxious witness can be heard saying, along with an expletive, in a video showing intense flames and a massive plume of thick smoke billowing over the city of Belgorod early Wednesday.

In another video filmed several hours later, what is described as a Russian humanitarian convoy comes under fire as it speeds across open fields in the afternoon sun.