Dozens of people have been killed and hundreds more wounded in rocket strikes by Russian forces on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, the Ukrainian interior ministry has said.
Blasts were heard in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. Meanwhile, about 90 miles (150km) north-east of Kyiv in Chernihiv, a missile reportedly hit a residential building in the centre of the city, causing a fire to break out, the agency added.
High-level talks between Ukraine and Russia that took place on the border with Belarus on Monday morning ended without a breakthrough. Both sides agreed to keep the negotiations going and a second round of talks could take place in the coming days.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, spoke with Russia’s leader, Vladimir Putin, in a phone call on Monday, where he reiterated demands to halt Russia’s offensive in Ukraine and urged Putin to stop all strikes on civilians, preserve the civilian infrastructure and provide safe access to key roads.
British intelligence appears to corroborate a recent report from Ukraine’s military that Russia had “slowed down” its offensive. Britain’s defence ministry has said Russia’s advance on Kyiv has been slowed by logistical failures and fierce Ukrainian resistance.
The Russian central bank increased interest rates to 20% from 9.5% after the rouble plunged up to 40% on Monday following western sanctions.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said he had signed an official request for Ukraine to join the European Union. A senior EU official said leaders may discuss the possibility of Ukrainian leadership at an informal summit in March but added that no process had been started yet.
The EU is preparing to grant Ukrainians who flee the war the right to stay and work in the 27-nation bloc for up to three years, EU officials said.
Ukrainian ports will remain closed until Russia’s invasion ends, the head of Ukraine’s maritime administration said, adding that the port of Mariupol had sustained damage from Russian forces on Monday morning.
Amnesty International has condemned Russia’s reported use of cluster munitions in Ukraine, saying an attack on a preschool “may constitute a war crime”.
Russian invasion forces seized two small cities in southeastern Ukraine and the area around a nuclear power plant, the Interfax news agency reported on Monday, but ran into stiff resistance elsewhere as Moscow’s diplomatic and economic isolation deepened.
Ukraine’s western allies increased weapons transfers in support. Finland agreed to ship 2,500 assault rifles and 1,500 anti-tank weapons.
The UK government announced a slew of measures “to prohibit any UK natural or legal persons from undertaking financial transactions involving the Russian central bank, the Russian national wealth fund and the country’s ministry of finance”.
The US blocked Americans from engaging in any transactions involving Russia’s central bank, National Wealth Fund and finance ministry in further punishment of Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.
The US stepped up the flow of weapons to Ukraine, announcing on Sunday it would send Stinger missiles as part of a package approved by the White House.
Fifa and Uefa have suspended Russia’s national and club teams from all international competitions until further notice, the two football bodies said in a joint statement. The International Olympic Committee’s executive board also recommended that international sports federations ban Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials from competing in events.
About 800 people were arrested as Belarus voted to ditch its non-nuclear status in a referendum that raises the stakes at a time when the country has become a staging ground for the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the government said on Monday.
Forty Ukrainian civil society groups have come together to call on the west to establish safe zones for refugees inside Ukraine, and to provide technology to help document Russian war crimes as part of a plan to make Putin and his inner circle face justice at the international criminal court.
