President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on Saturday for comprehensive peace talks with Moscow to stop its invasion of Ukraine, saying it would otherwise take Russia "several generations" to recover from its losses in the war.

Air raid sirens sounded early on Saturday in the Kyiv, Chernihiv and Zhytomyr regions, there were no immediate reports of fresh attacks, while efforts to evacuate civilians from cities under siege continued.

Britain’s foreign secretary has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of using talks with Ukraine as a “smokescreen” while he ramps up violence against the country.

Liz Truss told the Times of London newspaper that she was “very skeptical” about Russia’s seriousness in the talks, accusing Russian forces of trying to create space to regroup and unblock their stalled campaign.

Lviv, a crossroad
Friday’s Russian airstrikes at dawn in Lviv, just outside the international airport, made nearby buildings vibrate and shook any sense of comfort as thick black smoke billowed. The city is returning to its centuries-old role as an ever-adapting crossroads.

It has been a refuge since the war began nearly a month ago, the last outpost before Poland and host to hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians streaming through or staying on. From the other direction come aid and foreign fighters.

Refugees stream through Lviv heading west to the EU

Volunteerism has seized the city. People are opening their homes, and local news outlets report on residents cutting up old clothing to make camouflage netting for checkpoints.

An estimated 200,000 people have fled to Lviv from harder-hit parts of Ukraine. Embraced by the city’s residents and absorbed into homes and shelters, they look the most nervous of all.

Biden talks with Xi
Face to face by video, President Joe Biden laid out to Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday the stiff consequences the Chinese would face from the U.S. if they provide military or economic assistance for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

There was no indication he got any assurance in return.

Humanitarian catastrophe
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russian forces are blockading Ukraine’s largest cities to create a “humanitarian catastrophe” with the aim of persuading Ukrainians to cooperate with them.

He says Russians are preventing supplies from reaching surrounded cities in the center and southeast of the country.

An extended curfew has been announced in the south-eastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, where a nuclear power plant was shelled earlier this month.

The curfew will begin today at 16:00 local time (14:00 GMT) and end at 06:00 Monday, authorities have said.

Dmytro Gurin, a Ukrainian MP has described conditions in the besieged city of Mariupol as "medieval" to BBC.

"People are out of food, and more importantly out of water," Gurin said. "And several of days ago, tanks started to shoot nine-story buildings, so people cannot get out. Everybody is sitting in their apartments and basements thinking whether they will die in the next hour".

The U.N. migration agency said Friday that nearly 6.5 million people have been displaced inside Ukraine, on top of the 3.2 million who have already fled the country.

That means that around a quarter of Ukraine’s 44 million people have been forced from their homes.
-AP/BBC/Reuters