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KYIV – A series of powerful explosions rocked Kyiv early today even as talks between Ukraine and Russia were set to resume.
At least three large blasts were heard in the centre of the capital early today, and an AFP journalist saw a column of smoke rising.
The cause was not immediately clear but Ukrainian MP Lesia Vasylenko tweeted a photograph of smoke coming from a damaged block of flats, with firefighters in attendance.
“Podil district of Kyiv is a place to get coffee and enjoy life. Not anymore. Explosive just hit 30 minutes ago,” she said.
Just hours earlier President Volodymyr Zelenskyy – wearing his now-signature military-green T-shirt – issued a defiant video address claiming Russia was beginning to realise victory would not come on the battlefield.
“They have already begun to understand that they will not achieve anything by war,” Zelenskyy said, describing the latest round of talks between Ukrainian and Russian negotiators positively.
“Pretty good, as I was told,” he said of yesterday’s first day of discussions. “But let’s see. They will continue tomorrow.”
The two sides are far apart, with Moscow demanding Ukraine turn away from the West and recognise Moscow-backed breakaway regions.
Ukrainian negotiators say they want “peace, an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian troops”.
Almost three weeks after vast columns of Russian forces marched across the border, Moscow’s forces have bombarded and besieged several Ukrainian towns and cities.
The capital Kyiv is surrounded to the north and east and nearly half its population of three million people have fled.
Only roads to the south remain open. City authorities have set up checkpoints and residents are stockpiling food and medicine.
The United Nations estimates almost 2.8 million people have fled Ukraine and some 636 civilian deaths have been recorded, including dozens of children. The true toll is likely far higher. – AFP, March 15, 2022