The next round of talks between Ukraine and Russia will take place by video conference, both sides said on Sunday after claiming they were making headway in negotiations aimed at ending more than two weeks of conflict.
Besieged Ukrainians held out hope that renewed diplomatic talks with Russia might open the way for more civilians to be relocated, a day after Moscow escalated its offensive by shelling areas perilously close to the Polish border.
On Sunday, Russian forces launched a missile attack on a Ukrainian military installation near the Polish border, the western-most attack of the conflict so far. About 30 rockets were fired at the site, killing 35 people in an attack on a centre that served as a crucial hub for co-operation between Ukraine and the Nato countries supporting its defence. It raised the possibility that the alliance could be drawn into the fight.
Besieged Ukrainians held out hope on Monday that renewed diplomatic talks with Russia might open the way for more civilians to be relocated, a day after Moscow escalated its offensive by shelling areas perilously close to the Polish border. Ukraine’s leader warned that the attacks could expand to neighbouring countries.
Russian missiles pounded a military base in western Ukraine on Sunday, killing 35 people in an attack on a centre that served as a crucial hub for co-operation between Ukraine and the Nato countries supporting its defence. It raised the possibility that the alliance could be drawn into the fight. The attack was also heavy with symbolism in a conflict that has revived old Cold War rivalries and threatened to rewrite the current global security order.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called it a “black day,” and again urged Nato leaders to establish a no-fly zone over the country, a plea that the West has said could escalate the war to a nuclear confrontation.
“If you do not close our sky, it is only a matter of time before Russian missiles fall on your territory. Nato territory. On the homes of citizens of Nato countries,” Mr Zelenskyy said, urging Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet him directly, a request that has gone unanswered by the Kremlin.
Diplomats were due to resume talks on Monday, according to Russian state news agency Tass. Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden is sending his national security adviser to Rome to meet a Chinese official over worries that Beijing is amplifying Russian disinformation and may help Moscow evade Western economic sanctions.
The UN has recorded at least 596 civilian deaths, though it believes the true toll is much higher, and Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s office said that at least 85 children are among them. Millions more people have fled their homes amid the largest land conflict in Europe since the Second World War.
Since their invasion more than two weeks ago, Russian forces have struggled in their advance across Ukraine, in the face of stiffer than expected resistance, bolstered by Western weapons support. Instead, Russian forces have besieged several cities and pummeled them with strikes, hitting two dozen medical centres and creating a series of humanitarian crises.
That fight expanded on Sunday to the sprawling centre at Yavoriv, which has long been used to train Ukrainian soldiers, often with instructors from the US and other countries in the Western alliance. More than 30 Russian cruise missiles were aimed at the site. In addition to the fatalities, the Ukrainian Defence Ministry said 134 people were wounded in the attack.
The base is less than 25 kilometres from the Polish border and appears to be the westernmost target struck during Russia’s 18-day invasion. It has hosted Nato training drills, making it a potent symbol of Russia’s longstanding fears that the expansion of the 30-member Western military alliance to include former Soviet states threatens its security — something Nato denies. Still, the perceived threat from Nato is central to Moscow’s justifications for the war, and it has demanded Ukraine drop its ambitions to join the alliance.
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