Even as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office said a second round of talks with Russia about the war in Ukraine has begun in neighbouring Belarus, Russian forces seized a strategic Ukrainian seaport and besieged another as part of efforts to cut the country off from its coastline.
A video released by Zelenskyy’s office Thursday showed the informally dressed Ukrainian delegation walking into the meeting room where they shook hands with Russian delegates in suits and ties. The talks are aimed at stopping the fighting that has sent more than 1 million people fleeing over Ukraine’s borders, but the two sides appeared to have little common ground. Meanwhile, the Russian military said it had control of Kherson, and local Ukrainian officials confirmed that forces have taken over local government headquarters in the Black Sea port of 280,000, making it the first major city to fall since the invasion began a week ago. Elsewhere, the Russians pressed their offensive on multiple fronts, though a column of tanks and other vehicles has apparently been stalled for days outside the capital of Kyiv. Heavy fighting continued Thursday on the outskirts of another strategic port city on the Azov Sea, Mariupol, plunging it into darkness, isolation and fear. Maj. Gen. Andrei Sukhovetsky, the commanding general of the Russian 7th Airborne Division, was killed in fighting in Ukraine earlier this week.
I don’t bite: Zelenskyy
Ukraine President Zelenskyy has called for Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet him, salting the proposal with sarcasm. “Sit down with me to negotiate, just not at 30 metres,” he said on Thursday, apparently referring to recent photos of Putin sitting at one end of an extremely long table when he met with French President Emmanuel Macron. “I don’t bite. What are you afraid of?” Zelenskyy said, adding, it was sensible to have talks: “Any words are more important than shots.”
