Did Minsk and Smolensk has a strategic or tactical reason for Germans to attack during Operation Barbarossa?

Answer 1

Minsk was the first major city on the road to Moscow after Brest-Livotsk on the German border and it was essential to capture it quickly. It was bombed on the first day of the invasion.
Smolensk was the last major city on the road to Moscow and the Germans had to fight very hard for it.
Both were captured before the end of July