With peace talks between Russia and Ukraine set to take place in Turkey this week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a video address to the Ukrainian people late on Sunday that in the talks he would prioritise the "territorial integrity" of Ukraine.

However, comments made to Russian journalists earlier in the day, Zelenskiy said that Ukraine was willing to assume neutral status and compromise over the status of the eastern Donbas region as part of a peace deal.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends an interview with some of the Russian media via videolink, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine March 27, 2022. Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS

Even with talks approaching, Ukraine's head of military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, said Russian President Vladimir Putin was aiming to seize the eastern part of Ukraine.

Zelenskiy had insisted the West to give Ukraine tanks, planes and missiles to help fend off Russian forces.

Concerns on Chernobyl
Ukraine raised concerns about the safety of the Russian-occupied defunct nuclear power plant at Chernobyl, the site of the world's worst civil nuclear accident in 1986.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said, Russian forces have created a risk of damaging the containment vessel constructed around the station's wrecked fourth reactor. She also urged the United Nations to dispatch a mission to assess the risks.

The mayor of Slavutych, Yuri Fomichev said in an online video post early on Monday, that Russian forces that took over the town at the weekend had now left.

Catastrophe expected in Mariupol
The mayor of Mariupol, Vadym Boichenko, warned on Monday all civilians must be evacuated from the encircled Ukrainian city to allow them to escape a humanitarian catastrophe.

Boichenko said 160,000 civilians were still trapped in the southern port city on the Sea of Azov without heat and power after weeks of Russian bombardment. Russian forces has not agreed to give a safe passage to evacuate civilians from Mariupol.

Mariupol is widely seen as a strategic prize for the Russian invaders to create a bridge between Crimea, annexed by Moscow in 2014, and two separatist enclaves in eastern Ukraine.

The United Nations has confirmed 1,119 civilian deaths and 1,790 injuries across Ukraine but says the real toll is likely to be higher. Ukraine said on Sunday 139 children had been killed and more than 205 wounded so far in the conflict.
-Reuters