Ceasefire talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials ended on Monday at the Belarusian border, TASS news agency cited a source as saying after invading Russian forces encountered determined resistance from Ukrainian troops and civilians on a fifth day of conflict.
Russia faced deepening isolation and economic turmoil as Western nations, united in condemnation of its assault, hit it with an array of sanctions that created ripple effects around the world. Global shares slid and oil prices jumped.But Russian leader Vladimir Putin did not appear ready yet to think again about the invasion he unleashed on Russia’s western neighbour last Thursday, dismissing the West as an “Empire of Lies” and putting his nuclear-armed units on high alert.Ukraine denied that the nuclear plant had fallen into Russian hands, according to the news agency.There was fighting around the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol throughout the night, Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Donetsk regional administration, said on television on Monday. He did not say whether Russian forces had gained or lost any ground or provide any casualty figures.
In the northeastern city of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest, Russian forces fired on residential areas on Monday, killing dozens and wounding hundreds of people, the Ukraine military said.Video posted by the military showed thick plumes of smoke rising from apartment blocks and flashes of flames, apparently from missiles impacting. Reuters could not independently confirm the accounts.Fighting took place throughout the night around the port city of Mariupol, the head of the Donetsk regional administration, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said. He did not say whether Russian forces had gained or lost ground.
Russian forces seized two small cities in southeastern Ukraine and the area around a nuclear power plant, the Interfax news agency said.But they ran into stiff resistance elsewhere as the biggest assault on a European state since World War Two failed to make as much ground in its early days as some had expected.The capital Kyiv was still held by the Ukrainian government, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, dressed in military gear, encouraging his people with a series of defiant messages.
Blasts were heard in the city before dawn and Ukrainians set up checkpoints and blocked streets with piles of sandbags and tyres as they waited to take on Russian soldiers.In the basement of Ohmadyt Children’s Hospital in Kyiv, mothers and babies huddled on makeshift beds and blankets laid out on either side of the concrete aisle.On the streets, signboards normally used for traffic alerts showed the message: “Putin lost the war. The whole world is with Ukraine”.
The talks between the two sides were aimed at securing an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian forces, the Ukrainian president’s office said. The Kremlin has declined to comment on Moscow’s goals.They are being held on the border with strong Russian ally Belarus—a launch pad for the invading Russian troops.The Russian delegates wore formal suits while the Ukrainians had on plain dark clothes and, in one case, a baseball cap.Hours after they started, there was no word on any developments but Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said they were continuing. The EU would provide intelligence to Ukraine about Russian troop movements and EU countries were determined to increase their military support to Kyiv, Borrell said.France said President Emmanuel Macron spoke to Putin on Monday and urged an immediate ceasefire and an end to attacks on civilians and infrastructure.
