Russia bombs Ukrainian civilian targets ahead of talks

Russia’s failure to capture major cities and its growing loss of aircraft and armored vehicles increased pressure on Moscow in a campaign that led to Attracting global outrage and sanctions.

Ukrainian and Russian negotiators entered the third round of talks Monday afternoon in Belarus, according to Mikhail Podolyak, Ukraine’s presidential military adviser, with uncertain progress after previous agreements collapsed to allow civilians to flee the fighting. Turkey said the two countries’ foreign ministers will meet on Thursday at a Turkish resort.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, the most important global power To ally itself with RussiaHe said Beijing would work with the international community to provide “necessary mediation” when needed.

Captured areas as of Saturday

The direction of the invasion forces

Under the control of or allied with Russia

Main refugee transit sites

The territory of Ukraine, recognized by Putin as independent

Chernobyl

Not in operation

controlled by

separatists

Captured areas as of Saturday

The direction of the invasion forces

Under the control of or allied with Russia

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The territory of Ukraine, recognized by Putin as independent

Main refugee transit sites

Chernobyl

Not in operation

controlled by

separatists

Captured areas as of Saturday

The direction of the invasion forces

Under the control of or allied with Russia

Main refugee transit sites

The territory of Ukraine, recognized by Putin as independent

Chernobyl

Not in operation

controlled by

separatists

Captured areas as of Saturday

The direction of the invasion forces

Under the control of or allied with Russia

Main refugee transit sites

The territory of Ukraine, recognized by Putin as independent

Captured areas as of Saturday

The direction of the invasion forces

Under the control of or allied with Russia

Main refugee transit sites

The territory of Ukraine, recognized by Putin as independent

With Ukraine able to withstand a barrage of fire amid the growing deprivation concerned, President Volodymyr Zelensky, in separate calls with President Biden, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Boris Johnson

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi lobbied his case for increased sanctions against Russia and the implementation of a no-fly zone over his country.

NATO No-fly zone requests deniedsaying it would risk war with Russia – an outcome that the Russian president said

Russian President Vladimir Putin

Threatened if found NATO members Enter the conflict.

On Monday, Mr. Putin spoke with the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, stressing – contrary to evidence of deadly Russian attacks on civilians in Ukraine – that the Russian military was taking steps to save civilian lives, and accused Kyiv of obstructing those efforts, according to the Kremlin’s account of the phone call.

As Russia continued to blur the line between military and civilian targets, Russian forces shot and killed Yuri Prilypko, the head of the Hostomel village council, outside Kyiv, and two people who were helping him distribute food and medicine, according to the Security Council.

Facebook

page. Can hostel fierce fighting site In the early days of the war.

In Kharkiv, near the Russian border, Russia intensified its attacks on civilian targets, pressing to subdue a city, Ukraine’s second largest, which remains under Ukrainian control after days of heavy bombardment.

Emergency services said that Russian bombing focused on civilian sites at night in Kharkiv killed eight people and set more than 20 buildings on fire. The Ukrainian counterattack retook a town on the outskirts of the city, where Ukrainian officials said two Russian colonels were killed in the operation.

Elsewhere, Russia is consolidating its gains. In Irbin, west of Kyiv, where residents have been without food and water for three days, Russia has moved in tanks and motorized infantry units in a sign of what may be the capital’s stockpile.

Russia continued its efforts to subjugate the cities and towns of southern Ukraine, forming a land bridge to the Crimea and stifling access to the Black and Azov Seas.

Russian forces nearly surrounded the port city of Mariupol on the Sea of ​​Azov, besieging civilians. Doctors Without Borders described the humanitarian situation in the city as catastrophic.

With The food supply is under threat Ukraine has banned the export of staple foods such as rye, oats, buckwheat, salt and sugar throughout the country.

During the night, Russia attacked an airfield outside the southern port city of Mykolaiv, using multiple Smerch missile launchers to bombard civilian targets.

Kyiv said it destroyed 30 Russian helicopters at an airport near the Russian-occupied city of Kherson in southern Ukraine.

Missiles fired from Russian ships in the Black Sea hit infrastructure in Tuzla, south of Odessa, which Zelensky said was the target of a Russian attack, according to plans he said Ukraine had, heralding the expansion of Russian targets. Russian ships were regrouping in the Black Sea.

“We know that Russian forces are actively preparing to attack Odessa,” said Mr. Podolyak. They have already tried to implement this plan. But our defense managed to hold them back.”

Ukrainian Railways has set the date for the departure of an additional evacuation train from Odessa on Monday.

Ukraine halted a Russian advance in the eastern Luhansk region, exchanging artillery blasts in the occupied territories, killing nearly 40 soldiers and hitting an oil depot, Ukraine’s Interfax news service reported.

Ukraine continued to mobilize international support. The United Kingdom has announced a $100 million grant to bridge Ukraine’s public sector pensions and salaries, and the United States, along with Australia, Canada and New Zealand, has called on Interpol to suspend Russia’s membership.

A Russian government plane has left New York with dozens of Russian diplomats expelled by the United Nations.

– Isabel Coles, Ann M Simmons, and Jared Malsin contributed to this article.

write to Brett Forrest at [email protected]