Ukrainian officials said Monday that 90 children have been killed and more than 100 wounded in Ukraine and more than 2,500 residents of Mariupol have been killed since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24.
Russia denies targeting civilians, describing its actions as a "special operation" to demilitarize and "deNazify" Ukraine. Ukraine and Western allies call this a baseless pretext for a war of choice.
4 View gallery
Fire breaks in communities outside of Kyiv as Russians closing in on the capital
(Photo: Eric Marmour)
"The highest number of victims are in the Kyiv, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kherson, Mykolayiv and Zhytomyr regions," the Ukrainian general prosecutor's office said in a statement.
Presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych, meanwhile, said in a televised interview that over 2,500 have been killed in the Black Sea port city, citing figures from the Mariupol city administration, and accused Russian forces of preventing humanitarian aid reaching the encircled city on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the fourth round of talks between Ukraine and Russia set to get underway later on Monday and are set to focus on achieving a ceasefire, troop withdrawals and security guarantees for Ukraine, one of the Ukrainian negotiators Mykhailo Podolyak said.
Ukraine's position remained unchanged in insisting on a ceasefire before talks on future relations could happen, he said in a social media post and accompanying video.
"Negotiations. 4th round. On peace, ceasefire, immediate withdrawal of troops & security guarantees. Hard discussion," he wrote, adding that he believed Russia "still has a delusion that 19 days of violence against (Ukrainian) peaceful cities is the right strategy."
Previous rounds of talks have had similar aims but have ended up focused mainly on humanitarian issues and agreed ceasefires to supply towns and cities under siege by Russian forces have frequently failed.
Moscow said earlier it saw no reason for United Nations peacekeepers to be sent to Ukraine, a prospect that had not been widely considered up to now. Pyotr Ilyichev, director of the ministry's international organizations department, said there was no need for peacekeepers as Russia was in control, RIA reported.
A Russian delegate to the talks, Leonid Slutsky, was quoted by the RIA news agency as saying the negotiators had made significant progress and it was possible they could soon reach draft agreements.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the countries' delegations had been speaking daily by video link and a clear aim of his negotiators was to "do everything" to arrange for him to meet Putin.
"We must hold on. We must fight. And we will win," Zelenskiy said in a late night video speech.
Meanwhile, at least one person was killed and three injured at a residential building in Kyiv on Monday, Ukrainian state television said, while the city administration said the Antonov aircraft plant there had been shelled.
Russian troops have yet to enter the capital but thousands of people have died in other occupied or encircled towns and villages since the invasion.