2 sides meet as carnage grinds on
Ukraine: Signs of potential agreement in talks with Russia
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine said it saw possible room for compromise Tuesday in talks with Russia, while Moscow’s forces stepped up their bombardment of Kyiv, and an estimated 20,000 civilians fled the desperately encircled port city of Mariupol by way of a humanitarian corridor.
The fast-moving developments on the diplomatic front and on the ground came on the 20th day of Russia’s invasion, as the number of Ukrainians fleeing the country amid Europe’s heaviest fighting since World War II eclipsed 3 million.
A top Ukrainian negotiator, presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak, described the latest round of talks with the Russians, held via videoconference, as “very difficult and viscous” and said there were “fundamental contradictions” between the two sides, but added that “there is certainly room for compromise.” He said the talks will continue Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, another aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ihor Zhovkva, struck a more optimistic note, saying that the negotiations had become “more constructive” and that Russia had softened its stand by no longer airing its demands that Ukraine surrender.
Meanwhile, large explosions thundered across Kyiv before dawn from what Ukrainian authorities said were artillery strikes, as Russia’s bombardment of the capital appeared to become more systematic and edged closer to the city center, smashing apartments, a subway station and other civilian sites.
Zelenskyy said barrages hit four multistory buildings in the city and killed dozens.
A senior U.S. defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the Pentagon’s assessment, said that the Russians were using long-range fire to hit civilian targets inside Kyiv but that their ground forces were making little to no progress around the country. The official said Russian troops were still about 9 miles from Kyiv’s center.
The official said there are indications Russia believes it may need more troops or supplies than it has in Ukraine, and is considering ways to get more resources into the nation. The official did not elaborate.
Before Tuesday’s talks, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow would press its demands that Ukraine drop its bid to join NATO, adopt a neutral status and “demilitarize.”
In a statement that seemed to signal potential grounds for agreement with Moscow, Zelenskyy told European leaders gathered in London that he realizes NATO has no intention of accepting Ukraine.
“We have heard for many years about the open doors, but we also heard that we can’t enter those doors,” he said. “This is the truth, and we have simply to accept it as it is.”
NATO does not admit nations with unsettled territorial conflicts. Zelenskyy has repeatedly said in recent weeks that he realizes NATO isn’t going to offer membership to Ukraine and that he could consider a neutral status for his country but needs strong security guarantees from both the West and Russia.
Efforts to evacuate civilians and deliver aid were underway around Ukraine. The Red Cross said it was seeking to ferry people in about 70 buses from the northeastern town of Sumy, near the Russian border.
The exodus from Mariupol marked the biggest evacuation yet from the southern city of 430,000, where officials say a weekslong siege has killed more than 2,300 people.
Kyrylo Tymoshenko, a senior aide to Zelenskyy, said that about 20,000 people managed to leave Mariupol in 4,000 private vehicles via a designated safe corridor leading to the city of Zaporizhzhia.
Fighting has intensified on Kyiv’s outskirts in recent days, and air raid sirens wailed inside the capital. The mayor imposed a curfew extending through Thursday morning.
Flames shot out of a 15-story apartment building and smoke choked the air as firefighters climbed ladders to rescue people. The assault blackened several floors of the building, ripped a hole in the ground outside and blew out windows in neighboring apartment buildings. Rescue workers said at least one person was killed.
“Yesterday we extinguished one fire, today another. It is very difficult,” a firefighter who gave only his first name, Andriy, said outside the building, tears falling from his eyes. “People are dying, and the worst thing is that children are dying. They haven’t lived their lives and they have already seen this.”
City authorities also tweeted an image of the blown-out facade of a downtown subway station that had been used as a bomb shelter and said trains would no longer stop at the station.
In the country’s east, Russian forces launched more than 60 strikes overnight on Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, according to regional administration chief Oleh Sinehubov, who said the bodies of dozens of civilians were pulled from destroyed apartment buildings.