Ukrainian troopers take positions outdoors a navy facility as two automobiles burn in a road in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022. Russian troops stormed towards Ukraine’s capital Saturday, and road combating broke out as metropolis officers urged residents to take shelter. (AP Picture/Emilio Morenatti)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s president says his nation is prepared for peace talks with Russia however not in Belarus, which was a staging floor for Moscow’s 3-day-old invasion.
Talking in a video message Sunday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy named Warsaw, Bratislava, Istanbul, Budapest or Baku as various venues. He mentioned different places are additionally doable however made clear that Ukraine would not settle for Russia’s number of Belarus.
The Kremlin mentioned Sunday {that a} Russian delegation had arrived within the Belarusian metropolis of Homel for talks with Ukrainian officers. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov mentioned the delegation consists of navy officers and diplomats.
“The Russian delegation is prepared for talks, and we at the moment are ready for the Ukrainians,” Peskov mentioned.
Russia invaded Ukraine on Thursday, with troops transferring from Moscow’s ally Belarus within the north, and likewise from the east and south.
Avenue combating broke out early Sunday in Kharkiv as Russian troops pushed into Ukraine’s second-largest metropolis, in line with a regional official, following a wave of assaults elsewhere focusing on airfields and gasoline services that appeared to mark a brand new part of an invasion that has been slowed by fierce resistance.
The US and EU responded with weapons and ammunition for the outnumbered Ukrainians and highly effective sanctions supposed to additional isolate Moscow.
Russian troops approached Kharkiv, about 12.4 miles south of the border with Russia, shortly after Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine on Thursday. However till Sunday, they remained on the outskirts of the town of 1.4 million with out attempting to enter whereas different forces rolled previous, urgent their offensive deeper into Ukraine.
Early Sunday, Russian troops moved in and had been engaged by Ukrainian forces, mentioned by Sinehubov, the pinnacle of the Kharkiv regional administration, who informed civilians to not go away their houses. He gave no additional particulars.
Movies posted on Ukrainian media and social networks confirmed Russian automobiles transferring throughout Kharkiv and a light-weight car burning on the road.
Elsewhere, enormous explosions lit up the sky early Sunday south of the capital, Kyiv, the place folks hunkered down in houses, underground garages and subway stations in anticipation of a full-scale assault by Russian forces.
Flames billowed into the sky earlier than daybreak from an oil depot close to an air base in Vasylkiv, the place there was intense combating, in line with the city’s main. Zelenskyy’s workplace mentioned one other explosion was on the civilian Zhuliany airport.
Zelenskyy’s workplace additionally mentioned Russian forces blew up a fuel pipeline in Kharkiv, prompting the federal government to warn folks to guard themselves from the smoke by protecting their home windows with damp fabric or gauze.
“We are going to battle for so long as wanted to liberate our nation,” Zelenskyy vowed.
Terrified males, ladies and youngsters sought security inside and underground, and the federal government maintained a 39-hour curfew to maintain folks off the streets. Greater than 150,000 Ukrainians fled for Poland, Moldova and different neighboring international locations, and the United Nations warned the quantity might develop to 4 million if combating escalates.
President Vladimir Putin hasn’t disclosed his final plans, however Western officers imagine he’s decided to overthrow Ukraine’s authorities and change it with a regime of his personal, redrawing the map of Europe and reviving Moscow’s Chilly Battle-era affect.
To assist Ukraine’s capacity to carry out, the US pledged and extra $350 million in navy help to Ukraine, together with anti-tank weapons, physique armor and small arms. Germany mentioned it might ship missiles and anti-tank weapons to the besieged nation and that it might shut its airspace to Russian planes.
The US, European Union and United Kingdom agreed to dam “chosen” Russian banks from the SWIFT international monetary messaging system, which strikes cash round greater than 11,000 banks and different monetary establishments worldwide, a part of a brand new spherical of sanctions aiming to impose a extreme price on Moscow for the invasion. Additionally they agreed to impose “restrictive measures” on Russia’s central financial institution.
Responding to a request from Ukraine’s minister of digital transformation, tech billionaire Elon Musk mentioned on Twitter his satellite-based web system Starlink was now lively in Ukraine and that there have been “extra terminals en route.”
It was unclear how a lot territory Russian forces had reserved or to what extent their advance had been stalled. Britain’s Ministry of Protection mentioned “the pace of the Russian advance has briefly slowed probably because of acute logistical difficulties and powerful Ukrainian resistance.”
A senior US protection official mentioned greater than half the Russian fight energy that was massed alongside Ukraine’s borders had entered the nation and Moscow has needed to commit extra gasoline provide and different assist models inside Ukraine than initially anticipated. The official spoke on situation of anonymity to debate inner US assessments.
The curfew forcing everybody in Kyiv inside was set to final by means of Monday morning. The relative quiet of the capital was sporadically damaged by gunfire.
Combating on the town’s outskirts steered that small Russian models had been attempting to clear a path for the principle forces. Small teams of Russian troops had been reported inside Kyiv, however Britain and the US mentioned the majority of the forces had been 19 miles from the town’s middle as of Saturday afternoon.
Russia claims its assault on Ukraine from the north, east and south is just at navy targets, however bridges, colleges and residential neighborhoods have been hit.
Ukraine’s well being minister reported Saturday that 198 folks, together with three kids, had been killed and greater than 1,000 others wounded throughout Europe’s largest land battle since World Battle II. It was unclear whether or not these figures included each navy and civilian casualties.
A missile struck a high-rise condo constructing in Kyiv’s southwestern outskirts close to one of many metropolis’s two passenger airports, leaving a jagged gap of ravaged flats over a number of flooring. A rescue employee mentioned six civilians had been injured.
Ukraine’s ambassador to the US, Oksana Markarova, mentioned troops in Kyiv had been combating Russian “sabotage teams.” Ukraine says some 200 Russian troopers have been captured and hundreds killed.
Markarova mentioned Ukraine was gathering proof of shelling of residential areas, kindergartens and hospitals to undergo The Hague as doable crimes towards humanity.
Zelenskyy reiterated his openness to talks with Russia in a video message, saying he welcomed a suggestion from Turkey and Azerbaijan to arrange diplomatic efforts, which to this point have faltered.
The Kremlin confirmed a cellphone name between Putin and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev however gave no trace of restarting talks. A day earlier, Zelenskyy provided to barter a key Russian demand: abandoning ambitions of becoming a member of NATO.
Putin despatched troops into Ukraine after denying for weeks that he supposed to take action, all of the whereas increase a power of just about 200,000 troops alongside the international locations’ borders. He claims the West has didn’t take critically Russia’s safety issues about NATO, the Western navy alliance that Ukraine aspires to affix. However he has additionally expressed scorn about Ukraine’s proper to exist as an unbiased state.
Along with Kyiv, the Russian assault appeared to concentrate on Ukraine’s economically very important coastal areas, from close to the Black Sea port of Odesa within the west to past the Azov Sea port of Mariupol within the east.
Ukrainian troopers in Mariupol guarded bridges and blocked folks from the shoreline amid issues the Russian navy might launch an assault from the ocean.
“I do not care anymore who wins and who would not,” mentioned Ruzanna Zubenko, whose giant household was compelled from their house outdoors Mariupol after it was badly broken by shelling. “The one necessary factor is for our kids to have the ability to develop up smiling and never crying.”
Combating additionally raged in two jap territories managed by pro-Russian separatists. Authorities in Donetsk mentioned sizzling water provides to the town of about 900,000 had been suspended due to injury to the system by Ukrainian shelling.
The US and its allies have beefed up forces on NATO’s jap flank however to this point have dominated out deploying troops to battle Russia. As an alternative, the US, the European Union and different international locations have slapped wide-ranging sanctions on Russia, freezing the belongings of companies and people together with Putin and his international minister.
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Isachenkov reported from Moscow, and Miller from Washington. Francesca Ebel, Josef Federman and Andrew Drake in Kyiv; Mstyslav Chernov and Nic Dumitrache in Mariupol, Ukraine; and different AP journalists from all over the world contributed to this report.
Ukrainian troopers stand subsequent to a burnt navy truck in a road in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022. Russian troops stormed towards Ukraine’s capital Saturday, and road combating broke out as metropolis officers urged residents to take shelter. (AP Picture/Efrem Lukatsky)
A civil protection man stands guard at a checkpoint in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022. Russian troops stormed towards Ukraine’s capital Saturday, and road combating broke out as metropolis officers urged residents to take shelter. (AP Picture/Emilio Morenatti)
Protesters maintain up their placards throughout a rally towards Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, close to the Russian Embassy in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, Feb. 27, 2022. (AP Picture/Ahn Younger-joon)
A Ukrainian protester holds an indication throughout an illustration towards the Russian invasion of Ukraine in Los Angeles, Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022. Ukrainians in the US are praying for family and friends, donating cash and provides, and attending demonstrations. (AP Picture/Richard Vogel)
A lady sleeps on chairs within the underground parking zone of a resort that has been become a bomb shelter throughout an air raid alert in Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, Feb. 27, 2022. Terrified males, ladies and youngsters sought security inside and underground, and the federal government maintained a 39-hour curfew to maintain folks off the streets as greater than 150,000 Ukrainians fled to neighboring international locations and the United Nations warned the quantity might develop to 4 million if combating escalates.(AP Picture/Vadim Ghirda)