KYIV (AP):
The first talks aimed at stopping the fighting between Ukraine and Russia ended on Monday with no agreement except to keep talking, while an increasingly isolated Moscow ran into unexpectedly fierce resistance on the ground and economic havoc at home.
Five days into Russia’s invasion, the Kremlin again raised the spectre of nuclear war, while an embattled Ukraine moved to solidify its ties to the West by applying to join the European Union – a largely symbolic move unlikely to sit well with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has long accused the US of trying to pull Ukraine out of Moscow’s orbit.
A top Putin aide and head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, said that the talks lasted nearly five hours and that the envoys “found certain points on which common positions could be foreseen”. He said they agreed to continue the discussions in the coming days.
As the talks wrapped up, several blasts could be heard in Kyiv, though few details were immediately known. Russian troops, while attacking on multiple fronts, continued to advance slowly on the capital city of nearly three million people.
A 17-mile (25-kilometre) convoy consisting of hundreds of armoured vehicles, tanks, artillery and support vehicles was 17 miles (25 kilometres) from the centre of Kyiv, according to satellite imagery from the Maxar company.
People in Kyiv lined up for groceries after the end of a weekend curfew, standing beneath a building with a gaping hole blown in its side.
Messages aimed at the advancing Russian soldiers popped up on billboards, bus stops and electronic traffic signs across the capital. Some used profanity to encourage Russians to leave. Others appealed to their humanity.
‘Russian soldier – Stop! Remember your family. Go home with a clean conscience’, one read.
Fighting raged in other towns and cities scattered across the country. The strategic port city of Mariupol, on the Sea of Azov, is “hanging on,” said Zelenskyy adviser Oleksiy Arestovich. An oil depot was reportedly bombed in the eastern city of Sumy.
Video from Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, showed residential areas being shelled, with apartment buildings shaken by repeated, powerful blasts. Flashes of fire could be seen along with grey plumes of smoke.
Footage released by the government from Kharkiv depicted what appeared to be a home with water gushing from a pierced ceiling. On the floor lay what looked like an undetonated projectile.
Authorities in Kharkiv said at least seven people had been killed and dozens injured. They warned that casualties could be far higher.
“They wanted to have a blitzkrieg, but it failed, so they act this way,” said 83-year-old Valentin Petrovich, who watched the shelling from his downtown apartment and gave just his first name and his Russian-style middle name, out of fear for his safety.