A Russian armoured personnel carrier burns in Kharkiv - with what appears to be a body in the foreground.Credit:AP
On Tuesday afternoon AEDT an official said on Telegram that more than 70 Ukrainian soldiers were killed after Russian artillery hit a military base in Okhtyrka,a city between Kharkiv and Kyiv.
Dmytro Zhyvytskyy posted photographs of the charred shell of a four-storey building and rescuers searching through the rubble. In a later Facebook post,he said many Russian soldiers and some local residents also were killed during the fighting on Sunday. The report could not immediately be confirmed.
Talks at border
Delegations from Kyiv and the Kremlin met on theBelarusian border early on Tuesday morning (AEDT). Zelensky had demanded an immediate ceasefire and that all Russian troops leave his country ahead of the talks.
Ukraine had initially rejected attending talks in Belarus because Russian forces stationed there have joined the invasion. But then Ukrainian officials agreed to send a delegation to the meeting in Gomel,near the borders of Russia and Ukraine. The talks ended after several hours without a clear resolution but are expected to resume again in coming days.
Mykhailo Podolyak,an adviser to the Ukraine President,gave few details except to say that the talks focused on a possible ceasefire and that a second round could take place “in the near future”.
Earlier,Ukrainian officials accused Russian forces of launching a barrage of rockets on Kharkiv,Ukraine’s second-largest city,killing dozens of civilians,just as officials were preparing to meet for the talks.
A large convoy of Russian armed forces was moving closer to Kyiv,with the convoy stretched over at least 60km. It was about 25km from Kyiv’s city centre,according to satellite images provided by US company Maxar technologies. The photos also show deployments of ground forces and ground attack helicopter units in southern Belarus.
The northern end of a convoy of Russian vehicles southeast of Ivankiv,Ukraine.Credit:Maxar
The conflict is causing a major humanitarian crisis for Europe,with hundreds of thousands of refugees crossing Ukraine’s border with Romania,Poland and Moldova. The United Nations estimates more than 500,000 people have fled in recent days,making it the most intense week of human flight within Europe’s borders since at least the Balkan wars of the 1990s.
Sport and Switzerland
In growing international condemnation of Vladimir Putin’s actions,Switzerland - a favourite destination for Russian oligarchs and their money – has announced it will freeze Russian financial assets in the country,setting aside a deeply rooted tradition of neutrality to join the European Union and a growing number of nations seeking to penalise Moscow for its invasion.
The International Olympic Committee has also recommended that athletes from Russia and Belarus be blocked from competitions around the world,while football’s governing body announced Russian teams have been suspended from all international soccer,including qualifying matches for the 2022 World Cup,as Moscow was pushed toward pariah status in sports for its invasion of Ukraine.
World soccer body FIFA and European authority UEFA banned Russian national and club teams from their competitions “until further notice”.
“Football is fully united here and in full solidarity with all the people affected in Ukraine,” FIFA and UEFA said in a joint statement.
In a passionate speech aimed at rallying Ukrainians to continue to defend their country and encouraging further international support,Zelensky urged the European Union to grant his country immediate accession to the bloc in response to Russia’s invasion.
He thanked EU countries that had decided to supply arms to Ukraine over the past few days and said he had spoken to Ursula von der Leyen,President of the European Commission,to urge her to take “even stronger steps”.
“We appeal to the European Union for Ukraine’s immediate accession under a new special procedure,” Zelensky said in a video broadcast from the capital,Kyiv. “Our goal is to stand alongside all Europeans and,most importantly,to stand on their level.”
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In the US,the Ukrainian ambassador Oksana Markarova told senators at the Capitol her country needed more military weapons to flight the Russian invasion.
Congress is preparing supplemental funding to help Ukraine with the White House seeking at least $US6.4 billion in military and humanitarian aid.
“They need more arms,” said Senator Mark Warner,Democratic,the chairman of the Intelligence Committee.
“It’s David versus Goliath,” said Senator Jim Risch of Idaho,the top Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee. “I think that any human being reading the reports coming out of there realise that this is dire.”
US officials expect Russian forces to attempt to encircle Kyiv in the coming days and have warned their actions could become more aggressive because of their frustrations with their slow advance on the city so far.
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said that she would meet US Secretary of State Antony Blinken this week to discuss the crisis.
“He’s[Blinken’s] going to be travelling to Europe this week. I’ll be meeting him. I’ll also be in the United States the following week,” Truss told Parliament.