Airstrikes, shells hit Kyiv, Mariupol

Russia continued its bombardment of Ukrainian cities, with two person killed in airstrikes on a block of flats in the capital Kyiv yesterday, as the Kremlin said it may still opt to take control of large cities.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said shelling by Russian forces was preventing the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Black Sea port city of Mariupol.

A convoy of at least 160 cars left Mariupol yesterday in the first successful attempt to arrange a humanitarian corridor out of the encircled Ukrainian city after over a week of trying.

Firefighters tackled the remains of a blaze at the damaged apartment block in the capital, where a stunned resident described the chaos of the previous night in a city targeted by the Russian advance but so far largely spared bombardment.

"The staircase was not there anymore, everything was on fire," Maksim Korovii told Reuters.

Officials said at least one person died in the shelling and a second person was killed by falling debris after a missile strike on another part of the Ukrainian capital.

Russia denies targeting civilians, saying it is conducting a "special operation" to demilitarise and "denazify" Ukraine.

The Kharkiv regional prosecutor's office said two people died and one was injured when Russian troops fired artillery at a residential street in the Ukraine's second largest city.

As Moscow's military troops were advancing steadily towards several major urban hubs in its pro-Western neighbour, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "Putin gave orders to hold back on any immediate assault on large cities because the civilian losses would be large."

He added however that the defence ministry "does not rule out the possibility of putting large cities, which are already almost fully encircled, under its full control".

Exceptions would be made for areas "used for humanitarian evacuations," Peskov said.

"US and EU leaders it seems are forcing Russia towards an assault of large Ukrainian cities to hold our country responsible for civilian deaths," he added.

Ukrainian negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak, who on Sunday said Russia was beginning to talk "constructively", wrote ahead of yesterday's talks: "Negotiations. 4th round. On peace, ceasefire, immediate withdrawal of troops & security guarantees."

He later said discussions were hard, because the political systems of Russia and Ukraine were too different. Talks paused yesterday and would resume today, he said.

Earlier in the day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said a clear aim of his negotiators who were speaking daily to the Russians, was to "do everything" to arrange for him to meet Putin.

"We must hold on. We must fight. And we will win," Zelenskiy said in a late night video speech.