Zürcher Nachrichten - Deadly air strike hits Kyiv ahead of new Russia-Ukraine talks

EUR -
AED 3.849029
AFN 76.369609
ALL 99.22533
AMD 416.602214
ANG 1.878598
AOA 957.277582
ARS 1107.559261
AUD 1.653864
AWG 1.888908
AZN 1.789294
BAM 1.959545
BBD 2.104643
BDT 126.642051
BGN 1.957705
BHD 0.39492
BIF 3086.104606
BMD 1.047938
BND 1.407284
BOB 7.202767
BRL 6.046186
BSD 1.042352
BTN 90.576415
BWP 14.447441
BYN 3.411283
BYR 20539.583235
BZD 2.093822
CAD 1.484886
CDF 3002.342116
CHF 0.946377
CLF 0.026023
CLP 998.62209
CNY 7.639259
CNH 7.60804
COP 4337.813268
CRC 528.537933
CUC 1.047938
CUP 27.770355
CVE 110.477737
CZK 25.048128
DJF 185.625413
DKK 7.459557
DOP 64.71709
DZD 141.840516
EGP 53.054895
ERN 15.719069
ETB 131.000682
FJD 2.411882
FKP 0.84218
GBP 0.83256
GEL 2.970915
GGP 0.84218
GHS 16.10401
GIP 0.84218
GMD 74.924991
GNF 9011.826243
GTQ 8.046494
GYD 218.06679
HKD 8.157767
HNL 26.879642
HRK 7.571431
HTG 136.398508
HUF 401.192681
IDR 16968.315597
ILS 3.73823
IMP 0.84218
INR 90.996799
IQD 1365.429285
IRR 44118.186139
ISK 146.82672
JEP 0.84218
JMD 163.972789
JOD 0.743512
JPY 160.108669
KES 135.550875
KGS 91.642569
KHR 4174.217163
KMF 493.212484
KPW 943.238507
KRW 1508.836754
KWD 0.323076
KYD 0.868677
KZT 520.70516
LAK 22658.171352
LBP 93828.060263
LKR 308.379705
LRD 207.940412
LSL 19.28437
LTL 3.094289
LVL 0.633887
LYD 5.129097
MAD 10.426228
MDL 19.544287
MGA 4941.027195
MKD 61.538695
MMK 3403.661487
MNT 3627.072324
MOP 8.362483
MRU 41.482462
MUR 48.697608
MVR 16.148522
MWK 1807.458075
MXN 21.359752
MYR 4.647655
MZN 66.973485
NAD 19.283725
NGN 1579.190035
NIO 38.521613
NOK 11.646169
NPR 144.927606
NZD 1.838165
OMR 0.403464
PAB 1.042292
PEN 3.872702
PGK 4.202755
PHP 60.49956
PKR 291.109865
PLN 4.166848
PYG 8199.140433
QAR 3.800118
RON 4.977498
RSD 117.104957
RUB 94.137751
RWF 1484.722754
SAR 3.930486
SBD 8.844775
SCR 15.07969
SDG 629.810278
SEK 11.220696
SGD 1.405772
SHP 0.863068
SLE 23.903439
SLL 21974.740125
SOS 595.672612
SRD 37.044503
STD 21690.199169
SVC 9.120432
SYP 13626.353594
SZL 19.27294
THB 35.242677
TJS 11.361378
TMT 3.678262
TND 3.324502
TOP 2.454377
TRY 37.954132
TTD 7.073655
TWD 34.303723
TZS 2724.638346
UAH 43.488008
UGX 3835.330454
USD 1.047938
UYU 45.22709
UZS 13622.665448
VES 64.705637
VND 26615.003327
VUV 129.591405
WST 2.973387
XAF 657.250832
XAG 0.031562
XAU 0.000357
XCD 2.832105
XDR 0.798171
XOF 657.250832
XPF 119.331742
YER 259.888538
ZAR 19.262487
ZMK 9432.700402
ZMW 29.160404
ZWL 337.435583
  • RBGPF

    63.5700

    63.57

    +100%

  • SCS

    0.4900

    12.42

    +3.95%

  • CMSD

    0.1600

    23.87

    +0.67%

  • RIO

    1.2500

    63.29

    +1.98%

  • GSK

    0.4200

    36.55

    +1.15%

  • BTI

    -3.1300

    39.61

    -7.9%

  • AZN

    0.0200

    74.45

    +0.03%

  • RELX

    0.4700

    51.91

    +0.91%

  • CMSC

    0.1300

    23.41

    +0.56%

  • NGG

    0.6900

    61.27

    +1.13%

  • BCC

    1.8800

    120.6

    +1.56%

  • JRI

    0.0700

    12.92

    +0.54%

  • BCE

    0.3700

    23.63

    +1.57%

  • RYCEF

    0.0200

    7.9

    +0.25%

  • BP

    -0.1900

    34.49

    -0.55%

  • VOD

    -0.1600

    8.43

    -1.9%

Deadly air strike hits Kyiv ahead of new Russia-Ukraine talks
Deadly air strike hits Kyiv ahead of new Russia-Ukraine talks

Deadly air strike hits Kyiv ahead of new Russia-Ukraine talks

An air strike on a residential building in Ukraine's capital killed at least one person Monday, the country's emergency service said, as Moscow maintained its devastating assault ahead of a fresh round of talks.

Text size:

The strike, which injured at least a dozen people, came as Russian troops edged closer to the city and kept up their siege of the southern port city of Mariupol, where officials said nearly 2,200 people have been killed.

"As of 7:40 am (0540 GMT) the body of one person was found dead in a nine-storey apartment building" in the capital's Obolon district, the emergency service said in a statement, revising an earlier toll.

Ukrainian and Russian representatives were set to meet via videoconference Monday, a Ukrainian presidential adviser and a Kremlin spokesman both said before the latest strike.

According to Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamia, the talks would begin at 0820 GMT.

"And our goal is that in this struggle, in this difficult negotiating work, Ukraine will get the necessary result... for peace and for security," President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday, adding that both sides speak every day.

He said the aim was "to do everything to ensure a meeting of presidents. A meeting that I am sure people are waiting for."

"We see significant progress," Leonid Slutsky, a senior member of Russia's negotiating team, told state-run television network RT Sunday.

Talks between Kyiv and Moscow have yet to yield a ceasefire and Russian forces have shown no sign of easing their onslaught.

In an attack dangerously close to NATO member Poland, Russian air strikes Sunday on a Ukrainian military training ground near the border killed at least 35 people and wounded more than 130.

Zelensky on Monday renewed his call for NATO to impose a no-fly zone following the attack near the western city of Lviv.

"If you do not close our sky, it is only a matter of time before Russian missiles fall on your territory, on NATO territory, on the homes of NATO citizens," Zelensky said in a video address.

Washington and its EU allies have sent funds and military aid to Ukraine and imposed unprecedented economic sanctions on Russia.

But the United States has ruled out any direct intervention, with President Joe Biden warning that NATO fighting Russia "is World War III".

Biden spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron Sunday and the two leaders "underscored their commitment to hold Russia accountable for its actions and support the government and people of Ukraine," the White House said.

- Black Sea blockade -

In its intelligence update Sunday, Britain's defence ministry said Russia had established a naval blockade on the Black Sea coast, "effectively isolating Ukraine from international maritime trade".

"Russian naval forces are also continuing to conduct missile strikes against targets throughout Ukraine," it said.

But in a sign Moscow may have underestimated the challenge it would face, US officials told media Russia had asked China for military and economic aid for the war.

Moscow also asked Beijing for economic assistance against the crippling sanctions imposed against it, the New York Times said, citing anonymous officials.

Russia's finance ministry in a statement Monday accused foreign countries of wanting to force Moscow into an "artificial default" through sanctions.

Beijing later accused Washington of spreading lies over China's role in the Ukraine war, without directly addressing the US media reports.

"The US has been spreading disinformation targeting China on the Ukraine issue, with malicious intentions," foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said.

That came hours after the White House said National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan would meet top Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi in Rome on Monday.

US diplomat Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, said Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly asking for military help could be a "defining moment" for China's Xi Jinping.

Beijing has declined to directly condemn Moscow's invasion, and has repeatedly blamed NATO's "eastward expansion" for worsening tensions, echoing the Kremlin's prime security grievance.

The latest fighting in Kyiv's suburbs left a US journalist dead -- the first foreign reporter killed since Russia's invasion on February 24.

- 'No honour, no mercy' -

Meanwhile, efforts continued to get help to the devastated southern city of Mariupol, which aid agencies say is facing a humanitarian catastrophe.

A humanitarian column headed there had to turn back again on Sunday, a city official told AFP, after the Russians "did not stop firing." It is expected to try again on Monday.

A total of 2,187 residents have now died in days of relentless Russian bombardment, the city council said Sunday.

"The enemy is holding the city hostage by performing real acts of genocide," said Ukraine Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov.

Zelensky has accused Moscow of both blocking and attacking humanitarian convoys, although he said Sunday that another 125,000 people had been evacuated that way across Ukraine.

Russia's forces had earlier focused on eastern and southern areas of Ukraine -- home to more ethnic Russians -- but in recent days have moved to the country's centre.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told ABC that Russia was "clearly, at least from an air strike perspective... broadening their target sets".

Meanwhile in Kyiv, only the roads to the south remain open, according to the Ukrainian presidency. City authorities have set up checkpoints, and people are stockpiling food and medicine.

The northwestern suburb of Bucha is entirely held by Russian forces, along with parts of Irpin, Ukrainian soldiers told AFP. Some blocks in the once well-to-do suburb have been reduced to rubble.

- 'Stop this massacre!' -

Britain's defence ministry said Saturday that Russian forces were about 25 kilometres (15 miles) from Kyiv.

However, the Russians are encountering resistance from the Ukrainian army to both the east and west of the capital, according to AFP journalists on the scene.

"Russia is paying a high price for each advance as the Ukrainian Armed Forces continues to offer staunch resistance across the country," Britain's defence ministry said in its intelligence update.

The UN estimates almost 2.7 million people have fled Ukraine since the invasion, most of them to Poland, which is struggling to provide for the arrivals.

Pope Francis on Sunday issued an impassioned plea to the Russians, saying, "In the name of God, I ask you, stop this massacre!"

Zelensky says the Russians have suffered "heavy losses" of about 12,000 troops -- although Moscow put the number at 498, in its only toll released March 2.

About 1,300 Ukrainian troops have been killed, according to Kyiv.

In the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, Russian troops fired warning shots after thousands of locals gathered to protest against the invasion, local media said.

And in Russia, Instagram was no longer accessible Monday after Moscow accused its parent company Meta of allowing calls for violence against Russians on its platforms.

"Feel better, stay strong," a visibly moved Zelensky told them. "You are doing a great job."

burs-mtp/jfx/ser

B.Brunner--NZN