Russia bombs Kyiv as European leaders head to Ukraine’s capital

Two residents died and dozens were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment for smoke inhalation. Officials said there were no fatalities at the weapons facility.

With Russian forces pushing into the city limits, Kyiv’s mayor said he will impose a 36-hour curfew starting late Tuesday. Heavy artillery shells rocked the city again early Tuesday and crossfire during the night lit up the western horizon with spotting bullets.

The Polish government has said that the delegation of Central European leaders visiting Kyiv – all from NATO member states – are planning to provide a broad package of support to Ukraine. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Czech Prime Minister Petr Viala and Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša are scheduled to meet with Mr. Zelensky and Prime Minister Denis Schmihal as representatives of the European Council.

The European Union also agreed to a fourth agreement Sanctions package targeting Russiaincluding a widespread ban on energy sector investments and high-value luxury goods and new sanctions against Russian businessmen and oligarchsDiplomats said.

The attacks, which occurred during the night, took place while the Russian and Ukrainian negotiators were Getting ready for more conversations which was discontinued on Monday.

Mykhailo Podolyak, Consultant President of UkraineHe said earlier that Ukraine’s negotiators would focus on achieving a ceasefire, the immediate withdrawal of Russian forces, and security guarantees for the country. “Technical negotiations have been suspended until tomorrow,” Podolak wrote on Twitter. “Negotiations are continuing.”

Vladimir Medinsky, a Kremlin aide, who is leading the Russian delegation to the talks, said negotiations with the Ukrainian side would continue “every day, seven days a week” via video, as he wrote on his Telegram channel after Monday’s talks. He said coordination saves time and money.

“The work is difficult,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday, but the fact that talks were continuing was positive.

Twenty days of warRussia seized territory in southern Ukraine, but held off around Kyiv and elsewhere. Its forces increasingly resorted to bombing residential areas and civilian infrastructure in an attempt to weaken the Ukrainian resistance. The death toll from a rocket attack on the western city of Rivne on Monday has risen to 19, the local military administration said.

Areas no longer controlled by Ukraine as of Friday

The direction of the invasion forces

Under the control of or allied with Russia

Main refugee transit sites

Chernobyl

Not in operation

The territory of Ukraine, recognized by Putin as independent

controlled by

separatists

Areas no longer controlled by Ukraine as of Friday

The direction of the invasion forces

Under the control of or allied with Russia

The territory of Ukraine, recognized by Putin as independent

Main refugee transit sites

Chernobyl

Not in operation

controlled by

separatists

Areas no longer controlled by Ukraine as of Friday

The direction of the invasion forces

Under the control of or allied with Russia

Main refugee transit sites

The territory of Ukraine, recognized by Putin as independent

Chernobyl

Not in operation

controlled by

separatists

Areas no longer controlled by Ukraine as of Friday

The direction of the invasion forces

Under the control of or allied with Russia

Main refugee transit sites

The territory of Ukraine, recognized by Putin as independent

Areas no longer controlled by Ukraine as of Friday

The direction of the invasion forces

Under the control of or allied with Russia

Main refugee transit sites

The territory of Ukraine, recognized by Putin as independent

The Ukrainian military also said it had spotted a Russian reconnaissance drone that crossed the border into neighboring Poland. The Ukrainian Air Force announced that the Ukrainian air defenses had shot down the drone after it crossed back into Ukrainian airspace.

Apparently the drone was monitoring a Ukrainian military training center near the Polish border with russian missiles On Sunday, at least 35 people were killed.

This is the latest incident in recent days of a war zone drone crossing the airspace of a NATO member.

Romania said it was investigating the crash of a drone on its territory. Another drone, suspected of Ukrainian origin, crashed days earlier in Croatia, prompting the government there to ask the French military to conduct a reconnaissance flight in its airspace. The French military said that flight did not show anything suspicious.

Civilian casualties Officials warn they may rise sharply, as the fighting moves more into cities than outlying suburbs, and heavy Russian weapons are used to sway buildings to destroy the Ukrainian resistance.

Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Irina Verychuk said there were plans to evacuate civilians through nine humanitarian corridors on Tuesday, including a humanitarian aid convoy bound for the besieged port city of Mariupol.

Russian forces on Monday fired mortar shells at a convoy of buses carrying civilians from Hostomil, northwest of Kyiv, the Russian National Police said. The driver of one of the buses was wounded by the bombing, and a woman who was traveling in a civilian car was killed. The rest made it to safety.

the number of People who fled the fighting in Ukraine It is now nearly 3 million, according to United Nations data.

Mr. Zelensky is scheduled to hand over Virtual address for members of Congress Wednesday. The Ukrainian president has called for more help from Western allies, and several US lawmakers have pressured the Biden administration to take more action.

People familiar with the matter said Monday that the White House is discussing a possible Biden visit to Europe in the coming weeks.

The weapons provided to Ukraine by the United States and its European allies – especially anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons – played an important role in holding back the advance of the Russian ground forces, which suffered heavy losses in the north as they attempted to encircle Kyiv.

Early Tuesday local time, Mr. Zelensky urged Russian forces to stop fighting, citing heavy casualties. “If you surrender to our forces, we will treat you the way people are supposed to be treated. Like people, dignified. In a way you were not treated in your army,” he said in a statement.

He thanked those Russians who expressed their opposition to the war, and one anti-war protester mentioned Run on the evening news package On Channel One of Russia’s state television on Monday holding a poster that read: “No to war. Stop the war. Don’t believe the propaganda. They are lying to you here. The Russians are against the war.” “Stop the war, no war,” she yelled before the camera went off.

On Tuesday, the Russian Defense Ministry said that its forces had captured a “stronghold of nationalists and foreign mercenaries” north of Kyiv, seizing 10 Javelin missile systems and other weapons supplied by Western countries to Ukraine.

Russian ground offensives around Kyiv and the eastern city of Kharkiv appear to have faltered as Moscow’s forces shift to targeting civilian infrastructure and residential areas from afar. In the south, Russia has made faster progress, aided by its former military presence in Crimea, which it annexed in 2014 and with more favorable terrain.

The Russian Defense Ministry said it had taken control of the entire Kherson region in southern Ukraine.

—Georgi Kanchev contributed to this article.

write to Alan Collison at [email protected] and Isabel Coles at [email protected]