Ukraine: What happened today, Monday, March 14?
An elderly man walks outside an apartment block which was destroyed by an artillery strike in Kyiv tosay. Picture: AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda
As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine entered its 19th day today, negotiators from both sides held virtual talks.
Though three previous negotiation sessions failed to yield any substantive commitments from either side, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said “everybody is waiting for news to come this evening."
In a video address, Mr Zelenskyy said his country needed to “stand strong and fight in order to win and reach the peace Ukrainians deserve.”
“An honest peace with security guarantees for our state and our people that will be put on paper.”
Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak said that Russia was “listening carefully” to Ukraine’s proposals, adding that he believed Russia "still has a delusion that 19 days of violence against peaceful cities is the right strategy."
He said the delegations would discuss “peace, ceasefire, immediate withdrawal of troops and security guarantees”.
After several hours, the talks concluded without any major breakthroughs, though Mr Podolyak did say the negotiators were taking “a technical pause” and planned to meet again on Tuesday.
A technical pause has been taken in the negotiations until tomorrow. For additional work in the working subgroups and clarification of individual definitions. Negotiations continue...
— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) March 14, 2022
Meanwhile, Russia continued its bombardment of major population centres throughout Ukraine.
In Kyiv, two people were killed and three injured when a shell hit a residential building.
The nine-storey apartment complex reportedly caught fire due to Russian shelling at around 5am.
Two more people died when Russian forces struck the Antonov plane factory in the capital. Seven others were injured in the strike.
Shelling was also reported in several of Kyiv’s bigger suburbs - Irpin, Bucha, Hostomel and Brovary.
At least nine more people were killed when another Russian airstrike on a television tower in Rivne in western Ukraine, according to the region's governor.
In the southern port city of Mariupol, which has seen some of the gravest destruction of the invasion so far, a convoy of around 160 cars was able to exit the city, in what appeared to be the first successful attempt at a humanitarian corridor.
Over the weekend, the International Committee of the Red Cross warned that the city would face “a worst-case scenario unless a humanitarian agreement could be brokered there.
Conditions in the Mariupol have been deteriorating rapidly in recent days, with food scarce and many people left without access to shelter, heat, water and electricity.
Local authorities said a temporary ceasefire was holding this morning, and that the convoy had successfully travelled to the city of Berdyansk before heading onwards to the city of Zaporizhzhia.
On Monday, another of Mr Zelenskyy's advisers, Oleksiy Arestovych, said that 2,500 people have been killed in Mariupol since the Russian invasion began on February 24.
In the eastern city of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest, firefighters doused the remains of a four-storey residential building hit by an airstrike building.
It was unclear whether there were casualties.
Airstrikes were also reported in and around the cities of Mykolaiv, in the south of the country, and Chernihiv, in the north.
- A woman and her baby have died after Russian forces bombed the maternity hospital in Ukraine where she was meant to give birth, medics have revealed.
- Robert Mardini, the director-general of the International Committee of the Red Cross called for safe passage out for civilians and humanitarian aid to be allowed through the front lines of besieged Ukrainian cities. He said the ongoing invasion of Ukraine had become “nothing short of a nightmare” for those living there.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will deliver a virtual address to the US Congress on Wednesday as the Russian war on his country intensifies.
- In central London, squatters have broken into a mansion apparently owned by Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska and declared it “belongs to Ukrainian refugees”.
This afternoon, Ukrainian prime minister Denys Shmyhal accused Russian forces of "behaving like terrorists and of "killing children."
Mr Shmyhal said the world had “finally opened its eyes” to Vladimir Putin’s real intentions and says Russia has violated fundamental rights and freedoms since it invaded Ukraine.
Speaking before the Council of Europe, he urged the council to expel Russia from its ranks, something the human-rights body has never done.
Echoing earlier remarks from Zelenskyy, he also repeated pleas for a no-fly zone above Ukraine.
Nato countries have so far refused to agree to implement a no-fly zone over fears it would result in a direct conflict between the organisation and Russia.
Addressing the assembly he condemned the actions of Russian forces in his country.
"They bombard schools, kindergartens, hospitals. They kill children. They take hostages," he said.
"They kidnap representatives in the local authorities. They torture civilians."
Russia denies targeting civilians, saying it is conducting a "special operation" to demilitarise and "denazify" Ukraine, something Ukraine and Western allies say is a baseless pretext for a war of choice.
The invasion has sent more than 2.8 million people fleeing across Ukraine's borders and trapped hundreds of thousands in besieged cities.
Ukrainian authorities say 90 children have been killed and more than 100 have been injured in the fighting.
The UN human rights office said its monitors in Ukraine had confirmed the deaths of at least 636 civilians, including 46 children.
The actual toll is likely much higher, given there have been delays receiving and corroborating reports from areas of intense hostilities such as Kharkiv and Mariupol.
Ireland has sent 5,000 ready-to-eat meals and 200 units of body armour to Ukraine, as the war against Russia continues.
Higher Education Minister Simon Harris also confirmed that Irish students who fled from Ukraine will be able to continue their studies in Ireland, after places were made available by universities.
Speaking to the Irish Examiner as he flew to Washington DC, Micheál Martin said that while his visit to the US "will embrace the full gamut of US-Irish relationships", Ukraine will be a key issue.
Simon Coveney has said Ireland is on "high alert" for cyberattacks from Russia, as cybercrime has increased by 25% across EU countries in the past two weeks.
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