Reports of missile attack on residential area emerge on Tuesday as president says negotiations with Russia went ‘pretty well’ on Monday
- Russia-Ukraine war: latest updates
Pre-dawn explosions were heard in the capital Kyiv on Tuesday, as Russia and Ukraine were due to meet again for talks aimed at ending the 20-day war.
There were reports that residential apartment blocks were on fire after a Russian missile strike. The attack came one day after one person died and three were hospitalised after a missile partially destroyed a nine-storey block of flats in Kyiv’s Obolon district, with a second person killed later by falling missile fragments on a nearby street.
Nearly all of the Russian military offensives remained stalled after making little progress over the weekend, according to a senior US defence official. Russian troops were still about 15km (nine miles) from the centre of Kyiv, the official said.
China has already decided to provide Russia with economic and financial support and is contemplating sending military supplies such as armed drones, US officials fear. The US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, laid out the US case against Russia’s invasion in an “intense” seven-hour meeting in Rome with his Chinese counterpart, Yang Jiechi.
Zelenskiy praised Russian state media employee Marina Ovsyannikova after she burst on to the set of a live broadcast of the nightly news on Monday evening, shouting: “Stop the war. No to war.” Zelenskiy said: “I’m thankful to those Russians who don’t stop trying to deliver the truth.”
Spain has temporarily seized a $140m (£108m) superyacht in Barcelona believed to belong to oligarch Sergei Chemezov, a former KGB officer who heads state conglomerate Rostec. More seizures would follow, said prime minister Pedro Sánchez.
Ukraine’s president is expected to use his virtual address to Congress in Washington on Wednesday to intensify pressure on Joe Biden to allow the transfer of MiG-29 fighter jets from Poland. He is also likely to repeat a call for Nato to impose a no-fly zone.
Biden is considering travelling to Europe in the coming weeks to rally leaders there, according to NBC. A visit to Brussels, which hosts Nato and EU headquarters, is reportedly being considered.
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