KYIV, Ukraine — Talks between Russia and Ukraine opened Monday amid skepticism that they would produce any breakthrough to halt Europe’s biggest ground war in 75 years, as Ukrainian fighters continued to fend off the capture of key cities, Russian missiles pounded targets and hundreds of thousands of people fled the country.
Delegations from Kyiv and Moscow met Monday morning at a site near Ukraine’s border with Belarus. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had agreed to the negotiations Sunday, despite seeing “small chance to end the war,” and said the fate of his country as an independent nation had now entered a “crucial period.”
In Kyiv, a two-day-long curfew was lifted Monday to allow residents to venture out cautiously to replenish supplies, get some fresh air and survey the state of their city of 3 million people. Many lined up for hours outside gas stations and supermarkets, mostly ignoring the occasional wail of air-raid sirens.
