Kyiv, Ukraine (AP) – Russia resumed its attack Wednesday on Ukraine’s second-largest city in a strike that lit up the horizon with fireballs over populated areas, although both sides said they were ready to resume talks aimed at halting of the new devastating war in Europe.
The escalation of attacks on overcrowded cities followed an initial round of talks between arms-superior Ukraine and nuclear power Russia on Monday, which only led to a promise of a reunion. It was not clear when new talks could take place or what they would bring. The Ukrainian leader said earlier that Russia should stop the bombing before another meeting.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has condemned Russia’s bombing as a blatant terrorist campaign, while US President Joe Biden warned on Tuesday that if the Russian leader did not “pay a price” for the invasion, aggression would not stop.
The bombing continued on Wednesday. The Ukrainian news agency UNIAN quoted the head of the health administration of the northern city of Chernihiv as saying that two cruise missiles hit a hospital there.
The hospital’s main building was damaged, Sergei Pivovar said, and authorities are working to determine the number of victims. No other information was immediately available.
A Russian strike also struck the regional police and intelligence headquarters in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city with a population of about 1.5 million, killing four and injuring several, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine said. It added that residential buildings were also hit, but no further details were reported.
An explosion blew up the roof of a five-story police building and set fire to the top floor, according to videos and photos released by the service. Pieces of the building were scattered on neighboring streets.
The attack came a day after one in Kharkiv’s main square, killing at least six people and shocking many Ukrainians for hitting the center of life in a big city. A Russian strike was also aimed at a TV tower in the capital Kyiv.
Approximately 874,000 people have fled Ukraine, and the UN refugee agency has warned that the number could soon exceed 1 million. Countless others have taken refuge underground.
The total death toll from the seven-day war is unclear, with neither Russia nor Ukraine reporting the number of troops lost. The UN Office of Human Rights said it had registered 136 civilian deaths, although the actual number was certainly much higher.
Ukrainian authorities say five people have been killed in an attack on a TV tower that also struck the site of a Holocaust memorial in Babi Yar. A spokesman for the memorial said the Jewish cemetery at the site where the Nazi occupiers killed more than 33,000 Jews in two days in 1941 had been damaged.
Earlier, Russia told people living near transmission facilities used by Ukraine’s intelligence agency to leave their homes. But Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Wednesday that the air strike against the TV tower had not hit residential buildings. He did not address the reported deaths or damage in Babi Yar.
Zelensky, who called the strike in Kharkiv’s square a war the world will never forget, expressed outrage Wednesday over the attack on Babi Yar and expressed concern that other historically significant and religious sites, such as Hagia Sophia, could be targeted. attack. Earlier, the shelling hit the city of Uman, an important place of worship for Hasidic Jews.
“This is beyond humanity,” Zelenski said in a speech posted on Facebook. “They have orders to erase our history, our country and all of us.
Zelenski, who is Jewish, called on Jews around the world to protest the invasion.
Even when Russia insisted on its attack, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that a delegation would be ready later in the day to meet with Ukrainian officials.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba also said his country was ready, but noted that Russia’s demands had not changed and that he would not accept any ultimatums. Neither side said where the talks could take place.
As the war continues, Russia finds itself increasingly isolated, obsessed with sanctions that have thrown its economy into turmoil and left the country virtually without friends, with the exception of several nations such as China, Belarus and North Korea. Russia’s leading bank, Sberbank, announced on Wednesday that it was withdrawing from European markets amid tightening Western sanctions.
In Washington, Biden used his first address on the state of the union on Tuesday to underscore the determination of a renewed Western alliance working to rearm the Ukrainian army and accept these harsh sanctions.
“Throughout our history, we have learned this lesson – when dictators do not pay a price for their aggression, they cause more chaos,” Biden said. “They are still moving. And the costs and threats to America and the world continue to rise. “
As Biden speaks, a 40-mile (64-kilometer) convoy of hundreds of Russian tanks and other vehicles is advancing slowly toward Kyiv, the capital of nearly 3 million people, which the West fears is an attempt by Russian President Vladimir Putin to overthrow the government and install Kremlin-friendly mode.
The invading forces also pushed their attacks against other cities. The British Ministry of Defense said that Kharkiv and the strategic port of Mariupol were surrounded by Russian forces and that troops had moved to the center of a third city, Kherson. Russia’s Defense Ministry has said it has taken Kherson, although the city’s mayor has denied that Russia has taken full control.
The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN’s nuclear supervisory body, said it had received a letter from Russia saying its military had taken control of Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant. According to the letter, the plant’s staff has continued “its work to ensure nuclear safety and monitor radiation in normal operation” and states that “radiation levels remain normal”.
Russia has already taken control of the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the scene of the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 1986.
The IAEA says it has received a request from Ukraine to “provide immediate assistance to coordinate security activities” at Chernobyl and other sites.
Many military experts are worried that Russia may change its tactics. Moscow’s strategy in Chechnya and Syria was to use artillery and aerial bombardment to smash cities and crush the fighters’ resolve.
The British Ministry of Defense said it had seen an increase in Russian air and artillery strikes on urban areas over the past two days. Human Rights Watch says it has documented a cluster bomb attack in front of a hospital in eastern Ukraine in recent days. Residents also reported using such weapons in Kharkiv and the village of Kiyanka. The Kremlin has denied using cluster bombs.
Cluster bombs launch smaller “bombs” over large areas, many of which fail to explode long after they are dropped. If their use is confirmed, it would represent a new level of brutality in the war.
In the southern port city of Mariupol, the mayor said Wednesday morning that the attacks were relentless.
“Today we cannot even take the wounded from the streets, from houses and apartments, because the shelling does not stop,” Mariupol Mayor Vadim Boychenko was quoted as saying by Interfax.
Boychenko called Russia’s actions “genocide” – using the same word Putin used to justify the invasion.
On Tuesday, Moscow made new threats of escalation, days after raising the specter of nuclear war. A senior Kremlin official has warned that the West’s “economic war” against Russia could become “real.”
Russia has blamed the conflict on Western threats to Russia’s security, and Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, said Moscow was considering counter-sanctions against “enemy countries.” He did not specify what they could focus on.
Peskov acknowledged that the global economic punishment hitting Russia and the Russians now was “unprecedented”, but said Moscow had been prepared for any sanctions and potential damage had been taken into account before the invasion began.
“We have experience with this. We have experienced several crises, “he said.
Ukraine’s defense ministry says it has evidence that Belarus, a Russian ally, is preparing to send troops to Ukraine. A statement from the ministry, posted on Facebook early Wednesday, said Belarusian troops were on alert and concentrated near Ukraine’s northern border. President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has said his country has no plans to join the battle.
___
Isachenkov and Litvinova report from Moscow; Karmanau reported from Lviv, Ukraine. Mstislav Chernov in Mariupol, Ukraine; Sergei Grits in Odessa, Ukraine; Robert Burns, Zeke Miller and Eric Tucker in Washington; Francesca Ebel, Josef Federman and Andrew Drake in Kyiv; Lorne Cook in Brussels; and other PA journalists from around the world contributed to this report.
___
Follow the PA’s coverage of the crisis in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine