LIVE Russia-Ukraine crisis: Airstrike in Kyiv kills 1, wounds 6, say officials

Russia escalated attacks in western Ukraine on Sunday with a deadly airstrike on a military base where Ukrainian troops had trained with NATO forces, bringing the conflict closer to Poland and prompting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to renew his pleas for a no-fly zone.

Zelensky called Sunday a “black day,” and said none of the activities at the military base would have threatened Russian territory.

An American journalist was also killed Sunday and another injured when their vehicle came under fire from Russian forces outside Kyiv.

Meanwhile, continued fighting in multiple regions caused more misery throughout Ukraine and has provoked international outrage.

Now in its third week, the crisis has forced more than 2.5 million people to flee Ukraine.

ALSO READ:

• Russia-Ukraine crisis: Is it legal for foreigners to fight?

• India considers buying discounted Russian oil, commodities: Officials

Here's the latest of all top developments on March 14:

9:42pm: Putin discusses Ukraine with Israeli prime minister Bennett

Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the conflict in Ukraine by telephone with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Monday, the Kremlin said in a statement, adding that the call had been at Israel’s request.

In a readout of the call, the Kremlin said Bennett had told Putin about his recent contacts with leaders of several countries on the subject and that both agreed to continue their dialogue.

Bennett has held numerous calls with Putin in an attempt to assist efforts to resolve the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.

9:36pm: Biden considering trip to Europe

The White House is weighing the possibility of President Joe Biden traveling to Europe in the coming weeks for face-to-face talks with European leaders about the Russian attack on Ukraine, according to three U.S. officials familiar with the deliberations.

The prospective trip is yet to be finalised. One possible destination for the meetings would be Brussels, which is the headquarters for NATO, one of the officials said Monday. Another official said the White House was looking at Biden visiting NATO headquarters on March 24, with other potential stops in Europe.

All of the officials spoke on the condition of anonymity as none was allowed to comment publicly.

9:30pm: EU to nearly double its police force in Kosovo

The European Union police and justice mission in Kosovo said it will deploy another 92 special police officers to support NATO troops and local police.

The European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX), which arrived after Kosovo declared independence in 2008, still has 105 special police officers from Poland tasked to intervene in tough situations.

The new unit of 92 members from the European Gendarmerie Force (EUROGENDFOR) are from Portugal, France and Italy and will be deployed temporarily.

9:15pm: Strike on TV tower in Ukraine’s west kills nine

Nine people died and another nine received injuries on Monday when Russian forces hit a television tower outside the western Ukrainian city of Rivne, local authorities said.

“Nine dead, nine wounded,” the head of the regional administration, Vitaliy Koval, said on messaging app Telegram, adding that work was under way to free survivors trapped under the rubble in the village of Antopil.

Koval said at a briefing that two rockets hit the building early on Monday morning, Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported.

9pm: Russia-Ukraine talks to continue despite deadly strikes

Russia and Ukraine conducted fresh talks on Monday in an effort to end Moscow’s devastating war, despite deadly strikes on a Ukrainian television tower, the capital and a pro-Moscow separatist region.

On the 19th day of the attack, the fourth round of talks made no breakthrough other than a planned resumption Tuesday, as Russian-backed separatists said fragments from a shot-down Ukrainian Tochka-U missile ripped the centre of Donetsk, killing 23 people.

Moscow called it a “war crime” and rebels published photos of bloody corpses strewn in the street, even as the Ukrainian army denied having fired a missile at Donetsk.

8.28pm: Germany’s Scholz says Ukraine talks must lead to a ceasefire soon

“We have to make sure that results are achieved soon that will make a ceasefire possible."

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz

8.21pm: Ukraine urges Council of Europe rights watchdog to expel Russia

Ukraine on Monday urged the Council of Europe, a European body designed to uphold human rights and the rule of law across the continent, to expel Russia over its military operation in Ukraine.

The Council of Europe, which is separate from the European Union, suspended Russia’s membership on February 25 and is now debating whether to bar it altogether, which would be a first since the pan-Europe institution was set up after World War Two.

7.44pm: Airstrike in Kyiv kills 1, wounds 6

A Russian airstrike in the capital’s downtown area Monday killed one person and wounded six others, Ukrainian officials said.

The Ukrainian Emergency Services said the airstrike took place near a checkpoint and caused extensive damage to a residential neighbourhood.

7.38pm: Ukraine says Russian shelling preventing aid delivery to Mariupol

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

She said a convoy had been trying to reach the encircled city on Monday to deliver aid and help evacuate women and children, but, as with similar attempts over the past week, it had not been able to reach the city.

She confirmed that some civilians had managed to leave Mariupol in a convoy of cars on Monday.

7.02pm: EU finalising new round of sanctions

The European Union’s foreign policy chief says the 27-country bloc is finalising its new round of sanctions against Russia for its military operation in Ukraine.

Josep Borrell said Monday that the fourth package of coercive measures would target Russia’s market access, membership in international financial institutions, and steel and energy sectors.

“We are listing more companies and individuals playing an active role in supporting the people who undermine Ukrainian sovereignty,” Borrell said, after talks in Skopje on Monday with North Macedonia’s Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski. “This would be another major blow (to the) economic and logistic base upon which the Kremlin is building the invasion.”

5.33pm: 160 cars have been able to leave besieged city of Mariupol

The city council of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol said on Monday that 160 private cars had been able to leave the city, which is encircled by Russian troops, and were en route to the Russian-occupied town of Berdyansk.

“It is known that as of 1pm more than 160 private cars managed to leave,” it said in an online post. Over the past week, repeated efforts to evacuate civilians trapped in Mariupol - a city of 400,000 in peacetime - have failed.

5.08pm: Ukrainian refugees reach 2.8 million

As Russia’s war in Ukraine becomes a grim new reality for millions of Ukrainians, the tens of thousands who make the increasingly treacherous journey toward safety in the European Union each day are left with no sense of when, or if, they’ll ever return home.

More than 2.8 million people have fled Ukraine in the wake of Russia’s military operation, according to the UN refugee agency.

“All day crying from the pain of having to part with loved ones, with my husband, my parents. I understand that we may not see them. I wish this war would end."

Alexandra Beltuygova, 33, who fled from Dnipro

More details here

4.59pm: Russia says Ukrainian missile killed 20; Ukraine denies report

Russia’s defence ministry said on Monday that at least 20 people had been killed and 28 wounded when what it said was a Ukrainian missile with a cluster charge exploded in the capital of the Donetsk region, without providing evidence.

Pro-Russian separatists who control the region in east Ukraine said earlier a child was among those hit in Monday’s strike, accusing Kyiv of committing a war crime.

Ukrainian officials denied the Russian reports.

4.16pm: Russia could take full control of major Ukrainian cities

The Kremlin said on Monday that Russia could take full control of major Ukrainian cities and cautioned the West that it had sufficient military clout to fulfil all of its aims in Ukraine without any need for help from China.

“The defence ministry of the Russian Federation, while ensuring the maximum safety of the civilian population, does not exclude the possibility of taking major population centres under full control."

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov

More details here

2.53pm: Ukraine negotiator says talks with Russia are hard but ongoing

Talks between Russia and Ukraine on Monday have started and communication between the two sides is hard but ongoing, Ukrainian presidential adviser and negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter.

Tweeting a photo of the talks, which are being conducted via video conference, Podolyak said: “The parties actively express their specified positions. Communication is being held yet it’s hard. The reason for the discord is too different political systems.”

2.20pm: Separatists say 20 dead in Donetsk after Ukraine attack

Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine said Monday that a strike by Kyiv’s forces on the rebel’s defacto capital Donetsk had left at least 20 people dead, ahead of talks to resolve the fighting.

Rebel officials said that fragments from a Ukrainian Tochka missile that was shot down had landed in the centre of the city and that, “20 people were killed and nine were injured,” as a fourth round of talks was scheduled to end more than two weeks of fighting.

1.15pm: Ukraine to demand 'immediate' ceasefire at Monday talks

Ukraine said Monday it would demand an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian troops during a fourth round of negotiations to end more than two weeks of fighting after Moscow launched an attack on Ukraine.

"Peace, an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of all Russians troops — and only after this can we talk about regional relations and about political differences," Kyiv's lead negotiator Mikhailo Podolyak said in a video statement posted to Twitter.

1.02pm: UK airlifts 21 Ukrainian children for cancer care: govt

More than 20 Ukrainian children with cancer have been airlifted to the UK, the government said on Monday, as an appeal began for Britons to take in refugees in their homes.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the 21 children had been receiving treatment in Ukraine but were forced to leave their homes because of Russia’s military operation.

They are now being given “life-saving” care by the state-run National Health Service (NHS) and have been accompanied by their carers, he told Sky News television.

The government in London has been criticised for insisting that those fleeing the conflict and wanting to join family in the UK have to apply for visas to be able to travel.

More details here

12.30am: Over 2,500 Mariupol residents killed so far in war - Ukrainian presidential advisor

More than 2,500 residents of the Black Sea port city of Mariupol have been killed since Russian attacked Ukraine on Feb. 24, presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said in a televised interview on Monday.

He said he was citing figures from the Mariupol city administration, and accused Russian forces of preventing humanitarian aid reaching the encircled city on Sunday. Russia says it does not target civilians.

11.57am: 10 humanitarian corridors agreed for Monday, says Ukrainian deputy PM

Ukraine will try to evacuate trapped civilians through 10 “humanitarian corridors” on Monday, including from towns near the capital Kyiv and in the eastern region of Luhansk, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereschuk said.

More details here

11.10am: At least two dead in strike on residential building in Kyiv

At least two people died and 12 were wounded following an air strike on a residential building in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, the country’s emergency service said Monday.

“As of 07:40, the bodies of two people were found in a nine-storey apartment building, three people were hospitalised and nine people were treated on the spot,” the emergency service said on Facebook, adding that the building was in Kyiv’s Obolon district.

10.55am: Flow of health supplies is reaching Ukraine, WHO says

A flow of medical gear and equipment, including trauma kits, is reaching Ukraine to prop up a health care system grappling with a shortage of supplies amid Russia’s attack, the World Health Organization said on Monday.

Supply chains have been severely disrupted, with many distributors knocked out, some stockpiles out of reach because of military operations, supplies of medicine running low, as hospitals struggle to care for the sick and wounded, it said.

More details here

10.40am: Pregnant woman, baby die after maternity ward bombed

A pregnant woman and her baby have died after Russia bombed the maternity hospital where she was meant to give birth, The Associated Press has learned. Images of the woman being rushed to an ambulance on a stretcher had circled the world, epitomizing the horror of an attack on humanity’s most innocent.

In video and photos shot Wednesday by AP journalists after the attack on the hospital, the woman was seen stroking her bloodied lower abdomen as rescuers rushed her through the rubble in the besieged city of Mariupol, her blanched face mirroring her shock at what had just happened. It was among the most brutal moments so far in Russia’s now 19-day-old attack on Ukraine.

More details here

7.03am: Russia, Ukraine to hold fourth round of peace talks today

The fourth round of peace talks between Ukraine and Russia will be held on Monday, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and part of the negotiating team, has said.

The talks will be held virtually today.

Taking to Twitter, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s aide Mykhailo Podolyak said: “Again. Negotiations go non-stop in the format of video conferences. Working groups are constantly functioning. A large number of issues require constant attention. On Monday, March 14, a negotiating session will be held to sum up the preliminary results...”

Previously, Podolyak and Russian negotiator Leonid Slutsky both confirmed there was progress and that results could materialize in the coming days.

• Europe