Ukraine: What happened today?

Russia has been told to stop bombing Ukrainian cities before talks on a ceasefire can start while Ukraine's leader appeals to the EU to grant the country membership to the bloc

A woman takes photos of a destroyed accommodation building near a checkpoint in Brovary, outside Kyiv, Ukraine. Picture: AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky

Russia has been told to stop bombing Ukrainian cities before talks on a ceasefire can start.

That is according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy who today called on Russia to "stop the bombing and then sit down at the negotiating table."

Today also saw the Ukrainian leader appeal to the European Union to grant the country membership to the bloc. 

As the day draws to a close, here are today's updates on the ever-evolving situation.

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia must stop bombing Ukrainian cities before meaningful talks on a ceasefire could start, as a first round of negotiations this week had yielded scant progress. READ MORE 
• The Russian defence ministry has warned residents of Kyiv to leave their homes ahead it plans to strike key targets in and around the city. [#embed1] 
• Zelenskyy described a Russian military strike on the centre of Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, as a war crime. READ MORE
• Zelenskyy has also called on the European Union to grant Ukraine membership to the bloc so "light will win over darkness". READ MORE
• Ukrainian officials said that the Russian forces fired at the Kyiv TV tower and Ukraine’s main Holocaust memorial, among other civilian sites targeted on the sixth day of the Russian invasion. READ MORE
• Russian nuclear submarines sailed off for drills in the Barents Sea and mobile missile launchers roamed snow forests in Siberia after President Vladimir Putin ordered his nation’s nuclear forces put on high alert over tensions with the West over the invasion of Ukraine. READ MORE 
• A senior Russian official has launched a new stark warning over its sanctions against his country for its war in Ukraine. READ MORE 
• The Kremlin has denied that the Russian military has used cluster munitions in Ukraine and insisted that the Russian forces only have struck military targets. READ MORE
• YouTube has blocked channels linked to Russian state-owned media outlets RT and Sputnik across Europe. READ MORE

People take part in the Standing In Solidarity With Ukraine vigil on The Mound, Edinburgh. Picture: Jane Barlow/PA Wire

What's happening in Ukraine? 

The Ukrainian president has said that Russia must stop bombing Ukrainian cities before meaningful talks on a ceasefire could start, as a first round of negotiations this week had yielded scant progress.

Speaking in an interview in a heavily guarded government compound, Zelenskyy urged NATO members to impose a no fly zone to stop the Russian air force, saying this would be a preventative measure and not meant to drag the alliance into war with Russia.

It came as Mr Zelenskyy has called on European Union to grant Ukraine membership to the bloc so "light will win over darkness".

President Zelenskyy and the Speaker of the Ukrainian Rada, Ruslan Stefanchuk, addressed the European Parliament remotely this morning, calling on the bloc to intervene to ensure peace in Europe.

Earlier, he described a Russian military strike on the centre of Ukraine’s second-largest city as a war crime.

Not long after sunrise, a Russian military strike hit the centre of Kharkiv, badly damaging the symbolic Soviet-era regional administration building.

Closed-circuit television footage showed a fireball engulfing the street in front of the building, with a few cars continuing to roll out of the billowing smoke.

Ukrainian officials have also said that the Russian forces fired at the Kyiv TV tower and Ukraine’s main Holocaust memorial, among other civilian sites targeted on the sixth day of the Russian invasion.

How has Ireland responded today? 

In the Dáil today, Russian President Vladimir Putin was labelled as a "bully and a thug" by the Taoiseach.

Micheál Martin told the Dáil that Putin has “fundamentally altered” the multilateral rules-based order since the end of the Cold War.

Mr Martin also said that while he understands the anger towards the Russian ambassador and his utterances in advance of the invasion, he said no EU country is proposing the expulsion of ambassadors at this time.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen applauds after an address by Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, via video link, during an extraordinary session on Ukraine at the European Parliament in Brussels. Picture: AP Photo/Virginia Mayo

Irish MEPs Mick Wallace and Clare Daly rejected a European Parliament resolution condemning Russian aggression against Ukraine and demanding Vladimir Putin immediately pull his troops out.

The motion, which also argued in favour of a speeding up of Ukraine's candidacy for EU membership, received overwhelming support with 637 MEPs voting in favour and just 13 members against, a further 26 abstained.

Setting out their reasons for voting against the resolution, the two MEPs claimed the EU is "manipulating public anger to accelerate militarisation".

Meanwhile, Simon Coveney has reiterated that Ireland is militarily neutral despite our response to the Ukraine crisis.

Elsewhere, a senior academic has resigned from a prominent role at University College Dublin over the college's response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

A massive effort is also under way to help a Ukrainian child with leukaemia who was forced to flee Kyiv with his family just days before he was due to undergo a life-saving bone marrow transplant.