Russia sees ‘business-like spirit’ in Ukraine talks
As Russia’s offensive pressed closer to Ukraine’s seat of government, missiles and artillery slammed into high-rise apartment towers in Kyiv yesterday, setting buildings ablaze and leaving smoke hanging over the capital and its suburbs.
Russian forces escalated their bombardment of Ukrainian cities, including the city of Kharkiv and besieged port of Mariupol, intensifying the war’s humanitarian toll and leaving cities smoldering.
But diplomatic activity is quickening, as well.
Russian and Ukrainian negotiators agreed to meet again yesterday after a fourth round of talks that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described as “more realistic” than previous meetings. He urged patience as officials prepared to return to the negotiating table.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that a “business-like spirit” has emerged in the diplomatic talks, which he described as focused on a so-called “neutral status” for Ukraine’s military.
Zelenskyy meanwhile prepared to make a rare and direct appeal to members of the U.S. Congress, an attempt to marshal greater Western support against Russia’s crushing invasion.
Shelling and fighting over Kyiv
Shrapnel from an artillery shell smashed into an apartment in the center of Kyiv early yesterday, wiping out the building’s top floor and sparking a fire that sent plumes of smoke rising over the capital’s skyline. Emergency services reported two victims from the blaze, without specifying if they were killed or injured.
The leaping flames and thick smoke that have engulfed Kyiv apartment towers in recent days pointed to a possible new stage in the war, puncturing a sense of calm that had returned to the capital after Russia’s initial advance.
Fighting continued to rage in Kyiv’s suburbs, depriving thousands of heat and clean water. Russian troops were seeking to sever the capital from transport routes and supply lines as they planned a wider assault, a local official said.
A Russian airstrike slammed into the town of Markhalivka southwest of the capital and destroyed residential apartments, authorities said. The extent of the damage remained unclear.
Russia now occupies the city of Ivankiv, 80 kilometers north of Kyiv, and controls the surrounding region on the border with Belarus, local officials added.
A ceaseless barrage of strikes pounded the northeastern city of Kharkiv close to the Russian border that has suffered repeated bombardment. Ukrainian forces continued to thwart Russia’s incursion into the heart of the city, authorities said.
Powerful explosions meanwhile thundered in the region around Kherson, a strategic Black Sea port, and near a train station in the southeastern energy-production hub of Zaporizhzhia.
The region “is on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe,” Zelenskyy’s office warned.
EU envoys meet Zelenskyy, US aid incoming
The leaders of three European countries, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia, returned yesterday from a risky trip to the besieged Ukrainian capital to show their support. They met with Zelenskyy and expressed their hope that Ukraine would achieve its aspirations to join the European Union as fires burned in the wreckage wrought by Russian strikes outside.
Following Zelenskyy’s scheduled virtual address to U.S. Congress today [Macau time], President Joe Biden is expected to announce that the U.S. is delivering $800 million in new military assistance to Ukraine, according to a White House official. The sum includes money for anti-armor and air-defense weapons, bringing the total announced in the last week alone to $1 billion.
Biden also plans to travel to Europe next week for face-to-face talks with European leaders about the Russian invasion, and will attend an extraordinary NATO summit in Brussels. NATO has been bolstering its eastern flank with troops and equipment to deter Russia from invading any of its members.
Around the word, governments continued to punish Moscow for its invasion. The U.S. targeted the assets of Russian military officials in an additional round of sanctions. The European Union imposed sanctions on Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich and announced new measures to deny Russian oligarchs high-end luxury goods.
The Russian ëhumanitarianí resolution
Russia circulated a proposed U.N. Security Council resolution demanding protection for civilians “in vulnerable situations” in Ukraine and safe passage for humanitarian aid and people seeking to leave the country, but it make no mention of Russia’s responsibility for the war against its smaller neighbor.
The draft resolution endorses U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ call for dialogue and negotiations and calls for a negotiated cease-fire to rapidly evacuate “all civilians,” and underscores “the need for the parties concerned to agree on humanitarian pauses to this end.” But it never identifies “the parties concerned.”
The draft expresses “grave concern” at the deteriorating humanitarian situation and reports of civilian casualties in and around Ukraine, and strongly condemns “attacks directed against civilians and civilian objects, including indiscriminate shelling.”
Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told reporters the resolution was being put in a final form, and a Russian diplomat said a vote could take place as early today [Macau time].
Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Barbara Woodward tweeted that the Russian draft “has a few glaring omissions. For example, the fact that Russia is the aggressor here, and it is Russia’s invasion driving this humanitarian crisis.”
The Russian draft was circulated a day after France and Mexico announced that a humanitarian resolution on Ukraine they cosponsored, which had been discussed for two weeks in the 15-member Security Council was being moved to the 193-member General Assembly. MDT/AP
