Kyiv/Brussels - Russian shelling of Kyiv continued on Tuesday, with a 15-story residential building set ablaze after explosions were heard in the capital. At least one person was reportedly killed and others remain trapped inside.
The Ukrainian military said in a statement that the strikes were artillery strikes. They hit the Svyatoshynskyi district of western Kyiv, adjacent to the suburb of Irpin that has seen some of the worst battles of the war.
Russian forces also stepped up strikes overnight on the northwest suburbs of Irpin, Hostomel and Bucha, the head of the Kyiv region Oleksiy Kuleba said on Ukrainian television.
Russian forces also renewed efforts Tuesday to capture the important port city of Mariupol in the south, and unleashed new artillery strikes on downtown Kharkiv in the east, the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said on Facebook.
Kyiv's metro network has tweeted that one of the blasts this morning damaged the facade of the Lukyanivska station and offices.
More sanctions on Russia
Japan’s government is freezing the assets of 17 more Russian politicians tycoons and their relatives to step up sanctions and pressure Moscow to end its invasion of Ukraine. The move brings the number of Russians targeted by Japan’s asset freezes to 61.
European Union states are set to adopt new sanctions against Russia's oil majors Rosneft, Transneft and Gazprom Neft, but will continue to buy oil from them, an EU source told Reuters on Monday.
The three companies are already subject to EU restrictions on loans and debt financing. Under the new package to be discussed later on Monday by EU top diplomats, they will also face an investment ban, which is expected to freeze their funding from sources in the EU in new production and exploration projects in all fossil fuels.
"This ban will cover all investments, technology transfers, financial services, etcetera, for energy exploration and production," the head of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen said at a pre-announcement on Friday.
Talks to continue
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that talks between Ukrainian and Russian delegations will continue Tuesday after a fourth round of talks ended without a breakthrough.
Speaking in a video address, Zelenskyy said that the Ukrainian delegation did good work during Monday’s talks. He didn’t provide further details.
The Ukrainian president again addressed the Russian soldiers, urging them to stop fighting and saying: “I’m offering you a chance to survive.”
Image from video message uploaded to Telegram, Source: CNN
In a bid to shore up the economy badly battered by the war, Zelenskyy announced a plan to sharply reduce taxes for business.
Zelensky will deliver a virtual address to members of US Congress on Wednesday as he continues to urge the West to send fighter jets and more weapons to help his forces defend against Russian aggression.
The United Nations chief warned Monday that Russia’s war on Ukraine is holding “a sword of Damocles” over the global economy, especially poor developing countries that face skyrocketing food, fuel and fertilizer prices and are now seeing their breadbasket “being bombed.”
-AP/Reuters/BBC