Russia keeps up attacks on Ukraine's cities as two sides hold talks

The negotiations, which took place by video conference, are the fourth round involving higher-level officials from the two countries and the first held in a week

A Ukrainian serviceman guards his position in Mariupol, Ukraine. Picture: Mstyslav Chernov/AP

Russian and Ukrainian negotiators have held a new round of talks as Russia’s military forces bombarded Kyiv and other cities across Ukraine with a punishing assault that the Red Cross said has created “nothing short of a nightmare” for the country’s civilians.

After an airstrike on a military base near the Polish border brought the war dangerously close to Nato’s doorstep, the talks raised hopes for progress in evacuating civilians from besieged Ukrainian cities and getting emergency supplies to areas without enough food, water and medicine.