VIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian forces claimed to have retaken a Kyiv suburb and an eastern town from the Russians in what is becoming a back-and-forth stalemate on the ground, while negotiators began assembling for another round of talks Tuesday aimed at stopping the fighting.
Ahead of the talks, to be held in Istanbul, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country is prepared to declare its neutrality, as Moscow has demanded, and is open to compromise on the fate of the Donbas, the contested region in the country’s east.
The mayor of Irpin, a northwestern Kyiv suburb that has been the scene of some of the heaviest fighting near the capital, said Monday that the city has been “liberated” from Russian troops.
Zelenskyy warned that Russian forces are trying to regroup after losing the area.
“We still have to fight, we have to endure,” the president said late Monday in his nighttime video address to the nation. “We can’t express our emotions now. We can’t raise expectations, simply so that we don’t burn out.”
Irpin gained wide attention after photos circulated of a mother and her two children who were killed by shelling as they tried to flee, their bodies lying on the pavement with luggage and a pet carrier nearby.
A senior U.S. defense official said the U.S. believes the Ukrainians have also retaken the town of Trostyanets, south of Sumy, in the east.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss U.S. intelligence assessments, said Russian forces largely remained in defensive positions near the capital, Kyiv, and were making little forward progress elsewhere in the country.
The official said Russia appeared to be de-emphasizing ground operations near Kyiv and concentrating more on the Donbas, the predominantly Russian-speaking region where Moscow-backed rebels have been waging a separatist war for the past eight years.
Late last week, with its forces bogged down in parts of the country, Russia seemed to scale back its war aims, saying its main goal was gaining control of the Donbas.
While that suggested a possible face-saving exit strategy for Russian President Vladimir Putin, it also raised Ukrainian fears that the Kremlin intends to split the country in two and force it to surrender a swath of its territory.
Meanwhile, a cyberattack knocked Ukraine’s national telecommunications provider Ukrtelecom almost completely offline. The chief of Ukraine’s state service for special communication, Yurii Shchyhol, blamed “the enemy” without specifically naming Russia and said most customers were cut off from telephone, internet and mobile service so that coverage could continue for Ukraine’s military.
Also Monday, an oil depot in western Ukraine’s Rivne region was hit by a missile attack, the governor said. It was the second attack on oil facilities in the region near the Polish border.
In recent days, Ukrainian troops have pushed the Russians back in other sectors.
In the city of Makariv, near a strategic highway west of the capital, Associated Press reporters saw the carcass of a Russian rocket launcher, a burned Russian truck, the body of a Russian soldier and a destroyed Ukrainian tank after fighting there a few days ago. In the nearby village of Yasnohorodka, the AP witnessed positions abandoned by Ukrainian soldiers who had moved farther west, but no sign of Russian troops.
And on Friday, the U.S. defense official said the Russians were no longer in full control of Kherson, the first major city to fall to Moscow’s forces. The Kremlin denied it had lost full control of the southern city.
Russia has long demanded that Ukraine drop any hope of joining NATO, which Moscow sees as a threat. Zelenskyy, for his part, has stressed that Ukraine needs security guarantees of its own as part of any deal.
Over the weekend, Zelenskyy said he is ready to agree to neutrality. He also said that “Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity are beyond doubt,” while suggesting at the same time that compromise might be possible over “the complex issue of Donbas.”
The Ukrainian leader has suggested as much before but rarely commented so extensively. That could create momentum for the talks, for which the Russian delegates arrived in Istanbul on Monday, Turkish media reported.
Still, it was not clear how a compromise on the Donbas would square with maintaining Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
In other developments:
— President Joe Biden made no apologies for calling for Putin’s ouster, saying he was expressing his “moral outrage,” not a new U.S. policy. Over the weekend, Biden said, “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.” On Monday, the president said: “I’m not walking anything back.”
— U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he has launched an effort to achieve a humanitarian cease-fire that would allow aid to be brought in and people to move around safely.
— Russia’s invasion has most Americans at least somewhat worried that the U.S. will be drawn directly into the conflict and could be targeted with nuclear weapons, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
— T he Group of Seven major economies rejected a Kremlin demand that some countries pay in rubles for Russia’s natural gas. That demand appeared designed to support the Russian currency, which is under pressure from Western sanctions.
Earlier talks, both by video and in person, have failed to make progress on ending the more than month-old war that has killed thousands and driven more than 10 million Ukrainians from their homes. That includes almost 4 million who have fled the country.
Melania rests as she works clearing the rubble of a temple that was destroyed during attacks in Gorenka, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, June 6, 2022.(Source: AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) A man stands looking at a building destroyed during attacks, in Borodyanka, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, June 4, 2022.(Source: AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) A man walks next to heavily damaged buildings and destroyed cars following Russian attacks in Bakhmut, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, May 24, 2022. The region, along with neighbouring Luhansk, is part of the Donbas, where Russian forces have focused their offensive.(Source: AP Photo/Francisco Seco) Ukrainian servicemen sit in a bus after they were evacuated from the besieged Mariupol's Azovstal steel plant, near a prison in Olyonivka, in territory under the government of the Donetsk People's Republic, eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, May 17, 2022. More than 260 fighters, some severely wounded, were pulled from a steel plant on Monday that is the last redoubt of Ukrainian fighters in the city and transported to two towns controlled by separatists, officials on both sides said.(Source: AP Photo) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy released a video address marking the day of the Allied victory in Europe 77 years ago. The black-and-white footage showed him in front of a ruined apartment block in Borodyanka, a Kyiv suburb.(Source: Facebook/Volodymyr Zelenskyy via CNN) People walk in Mariupol, in territory under the government of the Donetsk People's Republic, eastern Ukraine, Wednesday, May 4, 2022.(Source: AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov) Anna Shevchenko, 35, reacts next to her home in Irpin, near Kyiv, Tuesday, May 3, 2022. The house, built by Shevchenko's grandparents, was nearly completely destroyed by bombing in late March during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In her beloved flowerbed, some roses, lilies, peonies and daffodils survived. "It is new life. So I tried to save my flowers," she said.(Source: AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) Video posted online Sunday by Ukrainian forces showed elderly women and mothers with small children climbing over a steep pile of rubble from the sprawling Azovstal steel plant and eventually boarding a bus.(Source: Azov Regiment via CNN) Ukrainian officials have said that up to 1,000 civilians are living with soldiers beneath a sprawling steel plant that is Mariupol's last defensive holdout.(Source: Azov Regiment via CNN) Tetyana Boikiv, 52, center, walks with family members and neighbours during a funeral service for her husband, Mykola Moroz, 47, at the Ozera village, near Bucha, Ukraine on Tuesday, April 26, 2022. Mykola was captured by Russian army from his house in the Ozera village on March 13, taken for several weeks in an unknown location and finally found killed with gunshots about 15 kilometres from his house.(Source: AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) There is not much left of Novotoshkivka, a small village in eastern Ukraine, new drone video published by the Russian-backed separatist government Luhansk People's Republic shows.(Source: Luhansk People's Republic via CNN) A number of homes have been destroyed in Moschun, Ukraine, a small village to the north of Kyiv and near the Hostomel Air Base, new drone video taken on Friday and obtained by CNN shows.(Source: Ihor Zakharenko via CNN) A firefighter sits on a swing next to a building destroyed by a Russian bomb in Chernihiv on Friday, April 22, 2022.(AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) Alla Prohonenko, 53, touches a photo of her father Volodymyr Prohonenko during his funeral in Irpin, cemetery on the outskirts of Kyiv, on Thursday, April 21, 2022. Proponenko died during the Russian occupation.(AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) Trenches and firing positions sit in the highly radioactive soil adjacent to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant near Chernobyl, Ukraine, Saturday, April 16, 2022. Thousands of tanks and troops rumbled into the forested exclusion zone around the shuttered plant in the earliest hours of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, churning up highly contaminated soil from the site of the 1986 accident that was the world's worst nuclear disaster.(AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) Local civilians walk past a tank destroyed during heavy fighting in an area controlled by Russian-backed separatist forces in Mariupol, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 19, 2022. Taking Mariupol would deprive Ukraine of a vital port and complete a land bridge between Russia and the Crimean Peninsula, seized from Ukraine from 2014.(Source: AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov) Yehor, 7, stands holding a wooden toy rifle next to destroyed Russian military vehicles near Chernihiv, Ukraine, Sunday, April 17, 2022.(Source: AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Dozens of bodies have been recovered in Borodianka, Ukraine, after apartment complexes and other buildings were destroyed by Russian shelling.(Source: CNN) People settle in a basement of an apartment building in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Sunday, April 10, 2022.(Source: AP Photo/Andrew Marienko) Ukrainian servicemen attend a training session on the Kharkiv outskirts, Ukraine, Thursday, April 7, 2022.(AP) A still from a video shared by Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shows a missile on the ground after a strike of a crowded train station in Kramatorsk that killed at least 50 people April 8, 2022. It has "For the children" written on it in Russian.(Zelenskyy official/Telegram via CNN Newsource) In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, center, walks before a meeting with President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, April 1, 2022. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)(Associated Press) A Ukrainian serviceman walks by an Antonov An-225 Mriya aircraft destroyed during fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces on the Antonov airport in Hostomel, Ukraine, Saturday, April 2, 2022. At the entrance to Antonov Airport in Hostomel Ukrainian troops manned their positions, a sign they are in full control of the runway that Russia tried to storm in the first days of the war.(AP PHOTO/Vadim Ghirda) A resident looks for belongings in an apartment building destroyed during fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces in Borodyanka, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 5, 2022.(Source: AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv, said that the cities northwest of the capital, such as Borodyanka, were being targeted after Ukrainian fighters moved back Russian troops.(Source: CNN) Tanya Nedashkivs'ka, 57, mourns the death of her husband, killed in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 4, 2022. Russia is facing a fresh wave of condemnation after evidence emerged of what appeared to be deliberate killings of civilians in Ukraine.(Source: AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) A woman walks amid destroyed Russian tanks in Bucha, in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, April 3, 2022.(Source: AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) Ukrainian soldiers walk next to destroyed Russians armored vehicles in Bucha, Ukraine, Saturday, April 2, 2022.(Source: AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) Ukrainian soldiers carry a body of a civilian killed by the Russian forces over the destroyed bridge in Irpin close to Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 31, 2022. The more than month-old war has killed thousands and driven more than 10 million Ukrainians from their homes including almost 4 million from their country.(AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) The regional government headquarters of Mykolaiv, Ukraine, following a Russian attack, on Tuesday, March 29, 2022. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says seven people were killed in a missile strike on the regional government headquarters in the southern city of Mykolayiv.(Source: AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) A soldier stands on a bridge destroyed by the Ukrainian army to prevent the passage of Russian tanks near Brovary, in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, March 28, 2022.(Source: AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) A man holds fragments of a rocket launched by the Russian forces at night, a rocket crater behind him, in the center of Kharkiv, Ukraine, Sunday, March 27, 2022.(Source: AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) A graffiti artist known as Mr. Dheo painted a large mural called "The Freedom Fighter" honoring the people of Ukraine in Matosinhos, Portugal.(Source: CNN Portugal) An attack in Mariupol, Ukraine, claimed about 300 lives. Ukraine said they destroyed a large Russian warship at the Berdyansk port. Ukrainian cellist Denys Karachevtsev played among the debris and rubble in the city of Kharkiv. He hopes to raise money to help restore the city through music.(Source: Oleksandr Osipov via CNN) A mural protesting the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been painted on a wall in Prague, Czech Republic.(Source: CNN Prima) A woman measures a window before covering it with plastic sheets in a building damaged by a bombing the previous day in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, March 21, 2022.(Source: AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) The aftermath of bombing is seen at a mall parking lot in Kyiv on March 21.(Source: CNN) Effects of Russian shelling on residences in Kyiv seen on March 21.(Source: STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE OF UKRAINE/CNN) Ukrainian forces are using every available weapon to strike back against Russian attacks. People gather in a basement, used as a bomb shelter, during an air raid in Lviv, Western Ukraine, Saturday, March 19, 2022. Lviv 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.(Source: AP Photo/Bernat Armangue) In Lviv, a strollers memorial took shape Friday to pay tribute to the children killed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Each stroller represents a young life lost.(Source: Twitter @scottmclean/CNN) Smoke is seen in the sky in Lviv, Ukraine, Friday after a Russian missile strike.(Source: CNN) An American citizen has been killed by a Russian artillery attack on civilians in Ukraine. A theater and swimming facility in Mariupol where hundreds of people were taking refuge was bombed in Russian airstrikes. A volunteer of the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces assists a woman to cross the street in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 16, 2022.(Source: AP Photo/Andrew Marienko) More Russian attacks on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, saw shells hit several residential buildings March 15. At least two high-rise buildings in the capital's Svyatoshyn district were heavily damaged and set ablaze, according to journalists with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.(Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty via CNN) A local resident searches for his belongings in an apartment building after it was hit by artillery shelling in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, March 14, 2022.(Source: AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy places his hand on his chest as he listens to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau deliver opening remarks before addressing the Canadian parliament, Tuesday, March 15, 2022, in Ottawa.(Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press via AP) Western Mariupol, Ukraine, is in shambles after sustained Russian strikes, with many buildings, including an apartment complex, destroyed and a number of thick plumes of smoke rising in the distance.(Source: Azov Battalion via CNN) The mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko visited the site of an airstrike in a suburb of the city on Monday, March 14.(Source: @Klitschko/Twitter via CNN) A man walks past a shelter covering the exploded reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear plant, in Chernobyl, Ukraine, Thursday, April 15, 2021. When fighting from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine resulted in power cuts to the critical cooling system at the closed Chernobyl nuclear power plant, some feared that spent nuclear fuel would overheat. But nuclear experts say there’s no imminent danger because time and physics are on safety's side.(AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File) A Ukrainian serviceman guards his position in Mariupol, Ukraine, Saturday, March 12, 2022. Ukrainian military says Russian forces have captured the eastern outskirts of the besieged city of Mariupol. In a Facebook update Saturday, the military said the capture of Mariupol and Severodonetsk in the east were a priority for Russian forces. Mariupol has been under siege for over a week, with no electricity, gas or water.(Source: AP Photo/Mstyslav Chernov) Ukrainian emergency employees and volunteers carry an injured pregnant woman from a maternity hospital that was damaged by shelling in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 9, 2022. The woman and her baby died after Russia bombed the maternity hospital where she was meant to give birth.(Source: AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File) Thousands of civilians flee the city Irpin in Ukraine. Around 2.7 million people have fled the country since the fighting began, the United Nations says.(Source: CNN TURK) Police say journalist Brent Renaud was killed after Russian troops opened fire on his car in Ukraine. The 50-year-old Little Rock, Arkansas, native was gathering material for a report about refugees when his vehicle was hit at a checkpoint in Irpin, just outside the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.(Todd Williamson/Invision/AP) A woman carries her cat near a destroyed bridge as she flees from her hometown on the road towards Kyiv, in the town of Irpin, some 25 km (16 miles) northwest of Kyiv, Saturday, March 12, 2022. Kyiv northwest suburbs such as Irpin and Bucha have been enduring Russian shellfire and bombardments for over a week prompting residents to leave their home.(Source: AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) An explosion is seen in an apartment building after a Russian army tank fires in Mariupol, Ukraine, Friday, March 11, 2022.(AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) A Russian attack happened in Dnipro, Ukraine, a long way from the nearest Russian ground troops. Ukrainian troops continue to fight against Russian troops as they inch
closer to the capital of Kyiv. This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows a closeup view of fires in an industrial area and nearby fields in southern Chernihiv, Ukraine, during the Russian invasion, Thursday, March 10, 2022.(Satellite image ©2022 Maxar Technologies via AP) A Ukrainian serviceman takes a photograph of a damaged church after shelling in a residential district in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 10, 2022.(Source: AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File) Dead bodies are placed into a mass grave on the outskirts of Mariupol, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 9, 2022 as people cannot bury their dead because of the heavy shelling by Russian forces.(AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Major General Borys Kremenetskyi, Defense Attache with the Embassy of Ukraine, listens to Ukraine's Ambassador to the United States Oksana Markarova as she speaks during a news conference at the Embassy of Ukraine in Washington, on Feb. 24, 2022. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has given the smaller nation’s embassy in Washington an unexpected role: recruitment center for Americans who want to join the fight. Diplomats working out of the embassy, in a townhouse in the Georgetown section of the city, are fielding thousands of offers from volunteers seeking to fight for Ukraine.(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) A woman holds a dog while crossing the Irpin River on an improvised path under a bridge as people flee the town of Irpin, Ukraine, Saturday, March 5, 2022.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) A Ukrainian girl pets her cat in her coat inside Lviv railway station, Monday, Feb. 28, 2022, in Lviv, west Ukraine.(AP Photo/Bernat Armangue) A woman walks outside a maternity hospital that was damaged by shelling in Mariupol, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 9, 2022.(Source: AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) An injured pregnant woman walks downstairs in the damaged by shelling maternity hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 9, 2022. A Russian attack has severely damaged a maternity hospital in the besieged port city of Mariupol, Ukrainian officials say.(AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) The death toll from an overnight Russian airstrike in Sumy, Ukraine, has risen to 21 civilians, local authorities say. The western Ukrainian city of Lviv is struggling to cope with the influx of new residents fleeing from Russian shelling. Many people have become trapped inside Ukrainian cities bombarded and encircled by Russian forces.(Source: CNN) People help an elderly woman to walk in a street with an apartment building hit by shelling in the background in Mariupol, Ukraine, Monday, March 7, 2022.(Source: AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy calls on world leaders for help. (UKRAINE'S PRESIDENCY) Thousands are fleeing for safety every day as Russian forces ramp up their attacks on innocent civilians in Ukraine. (CNN) In this image provided by the White House, President Joe Biden listens during a secure video call with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the Situation Room at the White House Monday, March 7, 2022, in Washington.(Adam Schultz | Adam Schultz/The White House via AP) For days, attempts to create corridors to safely evacuate civilians have stumbled amid continuing fighting and objections to the proposed routes.(Source: CNN) About 100 volunteers work around the clock preparing supplies, making camouflage for Ukraine's defenders. The U.S. weighs options to counter Russian aggression in Ukraine. (CNN, POOL, Ukraine Gov, Russia 24, Twitter/@fbkinfo, FB/Ukraine Presidency, Kyiv police) Ukrainian refugees flee to borders as the war between Russia and Ukraine intensify. A Ukrainian volunteer Oleksandr Osetynskyi, 44, holds a Ukrainian flag and directs refugees after fleeing from Ukraine and arriving at the border crossing in Medyka, Poland, Monday, March 7, 2022.(Source: AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu) People near the nuclear power facility in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, evacuate. Western officials expect Russia will increase its strikes, putting the lives of more civilians at risk. Photos from Ukraine emergency officials show the aftermath of Russian shelling on March 7 in a residential area in Mykolaiv, Ukraine.(Source: State Emergency Service of Ukraine via CNN) Loved ones say several people, including children, died in a suspected Russian airstrike March 4 on the Ukrainian village of Markhalivka.(Source: Expressen via CNN) An elderly lady is assisted while crossing the Irpin river, under a bridge that was destroyed by a Russian airstrike, as civilians flee the town of Irpin, Ukraine, Saturday, March 5, 2022.(Source: AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) Aerial video of the main street of Borodyanka, Ukraine, which came under Russian shelling. Odessa residents fill up sandbags to prepare for a potential invasion by sea. Volunteers work to reopen an Soviet-era bunker in Lviv, Ukraine. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said NATO will not be moving into Ukraine amid the war there.(Source: CNN) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned of the dangers of war near nuclear plants. Flares light up Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant amid a Russian attack. Even though the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant is of a different design than Chernobyl and is protected from fire, nuclear safety experts and the International Atomic Energy Agency warn that waging war in and around such facilities presents extreme risks.(Source: CNN) As Russia continues to invade Ukraine, Biden is pondering on tougher sanctions. Russian President Vladimir Putin says the Russian military has offered safe corridors to civilians to allow them to leave areas of fighting in Ukraine. Putin told French President Emmanuel Macron that he was determined to press on with his attack 'until the end,' according to Macron's office.(Source: Russia 24/CNN) Negotiators for Ukraine, left, and Russia, right, meet in Belarus on Thursday.(Source: UKRAINE'S PRESIDENCY/CNN) On Tuesday, Russian bombing of Kyiv's TV tower also damaged the Holocaust memorial at the Babi Yar, where more than 30,000 people were murdered in 1941. Satellite images show damage from Russian airstrikes in Ukraine on Feb. 28.(Source: Maxar Technologies/CNN) Children Vlada, left, Katrin and Danilo look out from a window of an unheated train carriage of an emergency evacuation train which is travelling from Kharkov to Lviv, as it stopped in the Kyiv railway station in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 3, 2022.(AP Photo/Andriy Dubchak) A woman runs as she flees with her family across a destroyed bridge in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 2. 2022.(Emilio Morenatti | AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) Andrey Goncharuk, 68, a member of territorial defense wipes his face in the backyard of a house that was damaged by a Russian airstrike, according to locals, in Gorenka, outside the capital Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 2, 2022.(VADIM GHIRDA | AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) People gather in the Kyiv subway, using it as a bomb shelter in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 2, 2022.(Efrem Lukatsky | AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) Residents of Lviv are making spike strips, flak jackets and camouflage. Crowds gather at a train station in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Thursday as the Russian attack continues.(Source: John Kluver/CNN) The Russian invaders are shelling homes, hospitals and schools in Ukraine. A Russian shell hits a large oil depot in Chernhiv, north of Kyiv, on Thursday. Since the conflict began, Ukraine is asking for all the help it can get.
Many countries, including the U.S. have responded by sending weapons. Some of those weapons are made in Alabama.(DVIDS) FILE - The Monastery of the Caves, also known as Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, one of the holiest sites of Eastern Orthodox Christians, is seen in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2007. As the capital braces for a Russian attack in 2022, the spiritual heart of Ukraine could be at risk.(EFREM LUKATSKY | AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File) The regional police department and Kharkiv National University have been targeted in a military strike Wednesday morning, according to Ukraine. Some are fleeing as Russian troops are advancing toward the strategically significant city of Odessa in southern Ukraine on Wednesday. People from other nationalities trying to leave Ukraine are having a hard time on the border with Poland. They say they aren't being allowed to cross. People look at the gutted remains of Russian military vehicles on a road in the town of Bucha, close to the capital Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 1, 2022. Russia on Tuesday stepped up shelling of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, pounding civilian targets there. Casualties mounted and reports emerged that more than 70 Ukrainian soldiers were killed after Russian artillery recently hit a military base in Okhtyrka, a city between Kharkiv and Kyiv, the capital.(AP Photo/Serhii Nuzhnenko) Ukraine's capital of Kyiv prepares to defend itself from the Russian attack. (CNN, EBS, INSTAGRAM, LIANA KOPERNAK, TELEGRAM, MAXAR, UNTV) The TV tower strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, killed five, according to a report. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is urging a ceasefire to show Russia's seriousness in negotiations. (Source: CNN) An Uragan multiple rocket launcher is being moved south of Belgorod, Russia, near the border with Ukraine, on Tuesday.(Source: CNN) The destruction in Kharkiv is seen after Tuesday's bombing. Six people were injured after the bombing of Kharkiv on Tuesday. People sleep in the improvised bomb shelter in a sports center, which can accommodate up to 2000 people, in Mariupol, Ukraine, late Sunday, Feb. 27, 2022.(AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Medics perform CPR on a girl at the city hospital of Mariupol, who was injured during shelling in a residential area in eastern Ukraine, Sunday, Feb. 27, 2022. The girl did not survive.(AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Passengers wait for a train to Poland, inside Lviv railway station, Sunday, Feb. 27, 2022, in Lviv, west Ukraine. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)(Bernat Armangue | AP) A number of governors across the nation have instructed state-run liquor stores to stop selling vodka and other alcoholic beverages that are made in Russia.(WAFB) An explosion massively damaged Kharkiv's city center on Tuesday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the attack on Kharkiv's main square 'frank, undisguised terror,' blaming a Russian missile and calling it a war crime.(Source: STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE OF UKRAINE/CNN) Ecuadorian citizens who left Ukraine take shelter in Prznemyl, Poland.(Source: CNN) Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is applying for his country to join the European Union.(Source: Ukraine's Presidency/CNN) People gathered in Madrid on Sunday to protest the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.(Source: CNN Madrid) Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, is bracing for the worst as the Russian invasion continues. (Source: CNN) Ukrainian refugees arrive in Poland, where volunteers offer food, rides and shelter. Since Russia launched its offensive on Ukraine, more than 368,000 people, mostly women and children, have been forced to flee, according to the United Nations’ refugee agency.(Source: TVN Poland via CNN) The Ukrainian Cultural Center held a demonstration on Sunday supporting the families and soldiers dealing with the Russian invasion.(Arizona's Family) Since Russia launched its offensive on Ukraine, more than 368,000 people, mostly women and children, have been forced to flee the country to bordering nations like Poland, according to the United Nations’ refugee agency.(Source: CNN) The Empire State Building in New York City was lit up in the Ukrainian flag colors of blue and yellow on Feb. 25.(Source: Twitter/@nycgov via CNN) An employee from the Emergency Situation Inspectorate soothes the crying baby of a family fleeing the conflict from neighbouring Ukraine at the Romanian-Ukrainian border, in Siret, Romania, Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022. Romania, which shares around 600 kilometres (372 miles) of borders with Ukraine to the north, is seeing an influx of refugees from the country as many flee Russia's attacks.(AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru) Russian armored convoys are seen moving toward Karkiv, Ukraine. (CNN) Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy: "This is our land, our country, our children, and we will defend all of this." (TWITTER/@ZELENSKYYUA) In this handout photo taken from video released by Ukrainian Police Department Press Service released on Friday, Feb. 25, 2022, firefighters hose down burning burning debris in front of a damaged building following a rocket attack on the city of Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Feb. 25, 2022. Russia is pressing its invasion of Ukraine to the outskirts of the capital. That comes a day after it unleashed airstrikes on cities and military bases and sent in troops and tanks from three sides.(Ukrainian Police Department Press Service via AP) Crowds are waiting to depart from Lviv train station in Ukraine on Friday. Thousands of Ukrainians have already crossed into Poland amid the unfolding Ukraine-Russia crisis. The aftermath is shown after Ukrainian forces pushed back Russians on a bridge to Kherson, Ukraine. (CNN) FILE - A Soviet-era top secret object Duga, an over-the-horizon radar system once used as part of the Soviet missile defense early-warning radar network, seen behind a radioactivity sign in Chernobyl, Ukraine, on Nov. 22, 2018. Among the most worrying developments on an already shocking day, as Russia invaded Ukraine on Thursday, was warfare at the Chernobyl nuclear plant, where radioactivity is still leaking from history's worst nuclear disaster 36 years ago. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)(Efrem Lukatsky | AP) Oslo City Hall was illuminated with the colors of the Ukrainian flag, in Oslo, Norway, Thursday night, Feb. 24, 2022. The celebration is intended as a symbolic act in solidarity with Ukraine.(Javad Parsa | Javad Parsa/NTB via AP) People run to take shelter while the sirens sound announcing new attacks in the city of Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Feb. 25, 2022.(AP) Ukrainian servicemen sit atop armored personnel carriers driving on a road in the Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday announced a military operation in Ukraine and warned other countries that any attempt to interfere with the Russian action would lead to "consequences you have never seen."(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) In this image made from video released by the Russian Presidential Press Service, Russian President Vladimir Putin addressees the nation in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. Russian troops launched their anticipated attack on Ukraine on Thursday, as Putin cast aside international condemnation and sanctions and warned other countries that any attempt to interfere would lead to "consequences you have never seen."(Russian Presidential Press Service via AP) Abandoned tanks and military vehicles are seen in Kherson, Ukraine, on Friday.(Source: CNN) Damage from bombing is seen in Luhansk, Ukraine, on Friday.(Source: TATE EMERGENCY SERVICE OF UKRAINE/CNN) A man looks at fragments of military equipment on the street in the aftermath of an apparent Russian strike in Kharkiv in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. Russian troops have launched their anticipated attack on Ukraine. Big explosions were heard before dawn in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odesa as world leaders decried the start of an Russian invasion that could cause massive casualties and topple Ukraine's democratically elected government.(AP Photo/Andrew Marienko) A damaged Ukrainian military facility in the aftermath of Russian shelling outside Mariupol, Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. Russia has launched a barrage of air and missile strikes on Ukraine early Thursday and Ukrainian officials said that Russian troops have rolled into the country from the north, east and south. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)(Evgeniy Maloletka | AP / Evgeniy Maloletka) A subway station in Kharkiv, Ukraine, turned into a bomb shelter on Thursday.(Source: CNN) President Joe Biden, center, meets in the Situation Room with top administration officials Thursday in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Among those shown are , from left, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Vice President Kamala Harris and, second from right, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.(Source: White House/Twitter/CNN) An apartment in Kharkiv, Ukraine, shows damage after Russian attacks there on Thursday.(Source: Justin Yau/CNN) Protesters gather in front of the Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C., Thursday, after Russia attacked Ukraine.(Source: WJLA/CNN) Troops and military vehicles were seen entering Ukraine from Belarus on Thursday.(Source: Ukrainian Border Guard/CNN) Residents of Lviv in western Ukraine line up to withdraw cash Thursday amid a Russian invasion of their country.(Source: CNN) Wreckage is seen in Ukraine after Russia launched missile attacks on Thursday.(Source: Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs/CNN) People in Kharkiv, Ukraine, pray at the main square Thursday amid the Russian invasion of their country.(Source: CNN) 'Putin began war against Ukraine, against the entire democratic world,' said Volodymyr Zelensky, president of Ukraine.(Source: FACEBOOK/ ZELENSKY OFFICIAL PAGE/CNN) Russian troops launched their anticipated attack on Ukraine on Thursday, as President Vladimir Putin cast aside international condemnation and sanctions. As Russian troops launched a wide-ranging attack on Ukraine, big explosions were heard before dawn in Kyiv, Ukraine's capital. Big explosions were heard before dawn Thursday in Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, as world leaders decried the start of a Russian invasion that could cause massive casualties and topple Ukraine's democratically elected government.(Source: Ukrainian President’s office via CNN) In the besieged southern port of Mariupol, the mayor said half the pre-war population of more than 400,000 has fled, often under fire, during weeks of shooting and shelling.
Alina Beskrovna, who escaped the city in a convoy of cars and made it to Poland, said desperate people are melting snow for water and cooking on open fires despite the risk of bombardment, “because if you don’t, you will have nothing to eat.”
“A lot of people are just, I think, starving to death in their apartments right now with no help,” she said. “It’s a mass murder that’s happening at the hands of the Russians.”
Putin’s ground forces have become bogged down because of stronger-than-expected Ukrainian resistance, combined with what Western officials say are Russian tactical missteps, poor morale, shortages of food, fuel and cold weather gear, and other problems. Moscow has resorted to pummeling Ukrainian cities with artillery and airstrikes.
In Stoyanka village near Kyiv, Ukrainian soldier Serhiy Udod said Russian troops had taken up defensive positions and suffered heavy losses.
The Russians probably “thought it would be like Crimea,” which the Kremlin annexed in 2014. “But here it’s not like in Crimea. We are not happy to see them. Here they suffer and get killed.”
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Andrea Rosa in Kharkiv, Nebi Qena in Kyiv, Cara Anna in Lviv and Associated Press journalists around the world contributed to this report.
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