Russian invasion of Ukraine: the siege on kyiv tightens, refugees number three million

Russia stepped up its bombardment of kyiv on Tuesday, devastating an apartment building and other buildings, as civilians in 2,000 cars fled Mariupol down a humanitarian corridor in what is believed to be the largest evacuation yet from the beleaguered port.

On the diplomatic front, another round of video talks between Russia and Ukraine began Tuesday, with leaders from three European Union (EU) countries — including Poland, a NATO member on Ukraine’s doorstep — planning a visit to Ukraine. kyiv in a bold show of support.

With more than three million displaced, loud explosions rumbled across kyiv before dawn from artillery strikes.

the ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy He said the shelling destroyed four multi-apartment buildings in the city and killed dozens of people. The shelling set a 15-story building on fire and sparked a frantic rescue effort.

The attacks struck a western district of kyiv, disrupting the relative calm that had returned after an initial advance by Russian forces in the first days of the war.

The leaders of Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia travel to the Ukrainian capital on Tuesday to show their support for the country.

“The purpose of the visit is to express the unequivocal support of the European Union for Ukraine and its freedom and independence,” Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said in a tweet.

Traveling with him will be his counterparts from Slovenia, Janez Janša, and Poland, Mateusz Morawiecki, as well as Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Polish deputy prime minister for security and leader of the ruling conservative party.

The leaders of the 27-nation EU were “informed” of the trip, but they did not endorse it, according to officials. An EU official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said European Council President Charles Michel had “pointed out the security risks” of the plan.

The UN said at least 636 civilians have been killed and 1,125 wounded in the conflict, although the true figure is possibly much higher.

The Ukrainian government said new relief and evacuation efforts would be launched on Tuesday in nine corridors in the country, including the kyiv region. Previous attempts failed due to incessant fighting.

One of the most desperate situations is in Mariupol, the port city of 430,000 where local authorities estimate the weeks-long siege has killed more than 2,300 people and left residents desperate for food, heat and medicine.

The city council reported that 2,000 civilian vehicles managed to leave the city along a humanitarian corridor of more than 260 kilometers (160 miles) west to the city of Zaporizhzhia.

On the new round of talks, Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak said that they were discussing a ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow would reiterate its demands that Ukraine desist from efforts to join NATO, adopt a neutral status and “demilitarize”.

The Russian invasion has shocked the world, upended Europe’s post-Cold War security order and driven millions from their homes. The Russian army is larger and better equipped than the Ukrainian, but its troops have met more resistance than expected, bolstered by weapons sent from the West.

When Russia started the war nearly three weeks ago, fears of an imminent invasion gripped the Ukrainian capital, with people sleeping night after night in subway stations or jamming trains to flee the city. But as the Russian offensive stalled, kyiv enjoyed relative calm.

In recent days, fighting has intensified on the outskirts and anti-aircraft sirens sound sporadically.

Artillery strikes on Tuesday hit the western kyiv district of Sviatoshyn, next to the Irpin suburb that has seen some of the war’s worst battles.

Flames erupted from a 15-story building as firefighters rescued people from stairs amid smoke. Several floors of the block were stained black, an impact left a hole in the ground in front of the building and the windows of nearby apartments were shattered.

Rescuers reported one dead and several injured, but said others were still inside.

“Yesterday we extinguished a fire, today another, it is very difficulta young firefighter said through tears as he took a short break outside the building.

“People die, and the worst thing is that children die. They have not lived their lives and they have already seen this, this is the worst”, said the rescuer, who only identified himself as Andriy.

The shock wave from an explosion also damaged access to a central subway station that was used as a bomb shelter. The municipal authorities tweeted an image of the destroyed facade and indicated that the trains would no longer stop at the station.

In the Podilsky district of kyiv, north of a neighborhood with government buildings, a ten-story apartment building was also attacked.

Russian forces have also intensified nightly attacks on the western suburbs of Irpin, Hostomel and Bucha, kyiv region chief Oleksiy Kuleba said on Ukrainian television.

“Many streets (in those areas) have become a mass of steel and concrete. People have been hiding in basements for weeks, and are afraid to come out even for evacuationsKuleba said Tuesday on Ukrainian television.

Russian forces also stepped up their attacks on the country’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, in the east, with more than 60 attacks overnight, according to regional government chief Oleh Sinehubov. “There are fires in the city and there are not enough firefighters,” he said.

The shells hit the city center, including the main market and the busy Gagarin Avenue. Rescuers pulled “scores of bodies of civilian residents” from the ruins of apartment blocks, he told Ukrainian television.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants to extend the declaration of martial law until April 24 and require men between the ages of 18 and 60 to stay in the country to fight. The president sent the proposal to parliament, which is expected to vote on the measure this week.

Talks between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators were expected to continue on Tuesday after concluding a session on Monday without major breakthroughs or breaks.

Both sides had expressed some optimism in recent days. Mykhailo Podolyak, Zelenskyy’s aide, tweeted that the negotiators would talk about “peace, ceasefire, immediate withdrawal of troops and security guarantees.”

US officials said Russian troops had made little progress in recent days and remained about 15 kilometers (9 miles) from central kyiv on Monday. The Pentagon said Russian forces had launched more than 900 missiles but still did not fully control Ukrainian airspace.

Members of the US government said China had indicated to Moscow that it was willing to provide military support in Ukraine and financial backing to help mitigate the effects of Western sanctions.

In a meeting in Rome with a top Chinese diplomat, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan warned China against helping Russia.

The Kremlin has denied ordering military equipment from China for use in Ukraine.

Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said Beijing’s position was “completely objective, impartial and constructive” and aimed at ending the conflict.

With each day war grew the human cost. The Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office released details of two Russian attacks from the previous day on Tuesday. An artillery attack hit a university and an open-air market in the northern city of Chernigov, killing ten people. In another incident, a 65-year-old woman was shot to death on a bus evacuating civilians from a kyiv suburb, according to prosecutors.

A Russian airstrike near a Ukrainian roadblock caused extensive damage in a central kyiv neighborhood and killed one person, according to the Ukrainian emergency agency.

The death toll in a Russian attack on a television tower in western Ukraine on Monday has risen to 19, authorities in the Rivne region said on Tuesday. Nine other people were injured in the attack on the television tower in Antopol, a town about 160 kilometers (100 miles) from Poland, a NATO member.

For its part, the Russian military said 20 civilians in the separatist-controlled eastern city of Donetsk had been killed by a ballistic missile launched by Ukrainian forces. The claim could not be independently verified.

In Russia, the main evening news show on state television was briefly interrupted by a woman walking into the studio with an anti-war banner. The OVD-Info website, which monitors political arrests, identified her as a Channel 1 employee and said she was in police custody.