Kremlin says a delegation is on the transfer for talks; Ukraine’s president says not in Belarus

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s president says his nation is prepared for peace talks with Russia however not in Belarus, which was a staging floor for Moscow’s 3-day-old invasion.

Talking in a video message Sunday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy named Warsaw, Bratislava, Istanbul, Budapest or Baku as different venues. He mentioned different areas are additionally potential however made clear that Ukraine doesn’t settle for Russia’s choice of Belarus.

The Kremlin mentioned Sunday {that a} Russian delegation had arrived within the Belarusian metropolis of Homel for talks with Ukrainian officers. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov mentioned the delegation contains army officers and diplomats.

“The Russian delegation is prepared for talks, and we at the moment are ready for the Ukrainians,” Peskov mentioned.

Russia invaded Ukraine on Thursday, with troops shifting from Moscow’s ally Belarus within the north, and in addition from the east and south.

Avenue preventing broke out early Sunday in Kharkiv as Russian troops pushed into Ukraine’s second-largest metropolis, in line with a regional official, following a wave of assaults elsewhere focusing on airfields and gas amenities that appeared to mark a brand new part of an invasion that has been slowed by fierce resistance.

The U.S. and EU responded with weapons and ammunition for the outnumbered Ukrainians and highly effective sanctions meant to additional isolate Moscow.

Russian troops approached Kharkiv, about 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) south of the border with Russia, shortly after Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine on Thursday. However till Sunday, they remained on the outskirts of the town of 1.4 million with out attempting to enter whereas different forces rolled previous, urgent their offensive deeper into Ukraine.

Early Sunday, Russian troops moved in and have been engaged by Ukrainian forces, mentioned Oleh Sinehubov, the top of the Kharkiv regional administration, who informed civilians to not go away their houses. He gave no additional particulars.

Movies posted on Ukrainian media and social networks confirmed Russian automobiles shifting throughout Kharkiv and a lightweight car burning on the road.

Elsewhere, big explosions lit up the sky early Sunday south of the capital, Kyiv, the place folks hunkered down in houses, underground garages and subway stations in anticipation of a full-scale assault by Russian forces.

Flames billowed into the sky earlier than daybreak from an oil depot close to an air base in Vasylkiv, the place there was intense preventing, in line with the city’s mayor. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s workplace mentioned one other explosion was on the civilian Zhuliany airport.

Zelenskyy’s workplace additionally mentioned Russian forces blew up a fuel pipeline in Kharkiv, prompting the federal government to warn folks to guard themselves from the smoke by masking their home windows with damp material or gauze.

“We are going to battle for so long as wanted to liberate our nation,” Zelenskyy vowed.

Terrified males, girls and kids sought security inside and underground, and the federal government maintained a 39-hour curfew to maintain folks off the streets. Greater than 150,000 Ukrainians fled for Poland, Moldova and different neighboring international locations, and the United Nations warned the quantity might develop to 4 million if preventing escalates.

President Vladimir Putin hasn’t disclosed his final plans, however Western officers consider he’s decided to overthrow Ukraine’s authorities and substitute it with a regime of his personal, redrawing the map of Europe and reviving Moscow’s Chilly Struggle-era affect.

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To help Ukraine’s capability to carry out, the U.S. pledged an extra $350 million in army help to Ukraine, together with anti-tank weapons, physique armor and small arms. Germany mentioned it could ship missiles and anti-tank weapons to the besieged nation and that it could shut its airspace to Russian planes.

The U.S., European Union and United Kingdom agreed to dam “chosen” Russian banks from the SWIFT world monetary messaging system, which strikes cash round greater than 11,000 banks and different monetary establishments worldwide, a part of a brand new spherical of sanctions aiming to impose a extreme price on Moscow for the invasion. Additionally they agreed to impose “restrictive measures” on Russia’s central financial institution.

Responding to a request from Ukraine’s minister of digital transformation, tech billionaire Elon Musk mentioned on Twitter his satellite-based web system Starlink was now lively in Ukraine and that there have been “extra terminals en route.”

It was unclear how a lot territory Russian forces had seized or to what extent their advance had been stalled. Britain’s Ministry of Protection mentioned “the velocity of the Russian advance has briefly slowed possible because of acute logistical difficulties and powerful Ukrainian resistance.”

A senior U.S. protection official mentioned greater than half the Russian fight energy that was massed alongside Ukraine’s borders had entered the nation and Moscow has needed to commit extra gas provide and different assist models inside Ukraine than initially anticipated. The official spoke on situation of anonymity to debate inside U.S. assessments.

The curfew forcing everybody in Kyiv inside was set to final by way of Monday morning. The relative quiet of the capital was sporadically damaged by gunfire.

Combating on the town’s outskirts advised that small Russian models have been attempting to clear a path for the principle forces. Small teams of Russian troops have been reported inside Kyiv, however Britain and the U.S. mentioned the majority of the forces have been 19 miles (30 kilometers) from the town’s middle as of Saturday afternoon.

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Russia claims its assault on Ukraine from the north, east and south is aimed solely at army targets, however bridges, colleges and residential neighborhoods have been hit.

Ukraine’s well being minister reported Saturday that 198 folks, together with three youngsters, had been killed and greater than 1,000 others wounded throughout Europe’s largest land struggle since World Struggle II. It was unclear whether or not these figures included each army and civilian casualties.

A missile struck a high-rise house constructing in Kyiv’s southwestern outskirts close to one of many metropolis’s two passenger airports, leaving a jagged gap of ravaged residences over a number of flooring. A rescue employee mentioned six civilians have been injured.

Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S., Oksana Markarova, mentioned troops in Kyiv have been preventing Russian “sabotage teams.” Ukraine says some 200 Russian troopers have been captured and 1000’s killed.

Markarova mentioned Ukraine was gathering proof of shelling of residential areas, kindergartens and hospitals to undergo The Hague as potential crimes in opposition to humanity.

Zelenskyy reiterated his openness to talks with Russia in a video message, saying he welcomed a proposal from Turkey and Azerbaijan to prepare diplomatic efforts, which thus far have faltered.

The Kremlin confirmed a telephone name between Putin and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev however gave no trace of restarting talks. A day earlier, Zelenskyy supplied to barter a key Russian demand: abandoning ambitions of becoming a member of NATO.

Putin despatched troops into Ukraine after denying for weeks that he meant to take action, all of the whereas increase a pressure of virtually 200,000 troops alongside the international locations’ borders. He claims the West has did not take severely Russia’s safety issues about NATO, the Western army alliance that Ukraine aspires to affix. However he has additionally expressed scorn about Ukraine’s proper to exist as an impartial state.

Along with Kyiv, the Russian assault appeared to give attention to Ukraine’s economically very important coastal areas, from close to the Black Sea port of Odesa within the west to past the Azov Sea port of Mariupol within the east.

Ukrainian troopers in Mariupol guarded bridges and blocked folks from the shoreline amid issues the Russian navy might launch an assault from the ocean.

“I don’t care anymore who wins and who doesn’t,” mentioned Ruzanna Zubenko, whose giant household was compelled from their house exterior Mariupol after it was badly broken by shelling. “The one essential factor is for our youngsters to have the ability to develop up smiling and never crying.”

Combating additionally raged in two japanese territories managed by pro-Russia separatists. Authorities in Donetsk mentioned sizzling water provides to the town of about 900,000 have been suspended due to harm to the system by Ukrainian shelling.

The U.S. and its allies have beefed up forces on NATO’s japanese flank however thus far have dominated out deploying troops to battle Russia. As a substitute, the U.S., the European Union and different international locations have slapped wide-ranging sanctions on Russia, freezing the belongings of companies and people together with Putin and his international minister.

Isachenkov reported from Moscow, and Miller from Washington. Francesca Ebel, Josef Federman and Andrew Drake in Kyiv; Mstyslav Chernov and Nic Dumitrache in Mariupol, Ukraine; and different AP journalists from world wide contributed to this report.