Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday Russia must call a halt to bombing Ukrainian cities before meaningful talks on a ceasefire could start, as a first round of negotiations this week had yielded scant progress.
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Speaking in an interview in a heavily guarded government compound, Zelenskiy urged NATO members to impose a no fly zone to stop the Russian airforce, saying it was a preventative measure and not meant to drag the alliance into war with Russia.
Zelenskiy, who has refused offers to leave the Ukrainian capital as Russian forces advanced, also said Ukraine would demand legally binding security guarantees if NATO shut the door on Ukraine's membership prospects.
Russian forces have attacked a television tower in Ukraine's capital Kyiv, potentially disrupting its signal, Ukrainian Interior Ministry adviser Anton Herashchenko said on social media on Tuesday.
Work will be done to restore any lost signal, the local 1+1 television channel said.
Ukraine's State Service for Emergency Situations said the strikes on the TV tower killed five people and left five more wounded. Ukrainian parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, posted a photo of clouds of smoke around the TV tower, which is a couple miles from central Kyiv and a short walk from numerous apartment buildings. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said an electrical substation powering the tower and a control room on the tower were damaged from the hit.
Russia warned Kyiv residents to flee their homes on Tuesday and rained rockets down on Kharkiv, as Russian commanders who have failed to achieve a quick victory shifted their tactics to intensify the bombardment of Ukrainian cities.
With an armored column miles long bearing down on the capital, Russia's defense ministry said it was planning to strike targets in Kyiv used by Ukraine's security service. Residents near such sites should evacuate their homes, it warned, while giving no information about where in the city of 3 million people those targets were located.
Rocket strikes on Kharkiv killed at least 10 people and wounded 35, Ukrainian Interior Ministry adviser Anton Herashchenko said. Similar strikes had killed and wounded dozens in the city the previous day.
"The rubble is being cleared and there will be even more victims and wounded," he said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the artillery barrages on Kharkiv amounted to state terrorism.
Nearly a week since Russian troops poured over the border, they have failed to capture a single major Ukrainian city after running into far fiercer resistance than they expected.
"The Russian army is an artillery army primarily, and it looks like they are shifting into war-fighting mode," said Nick Reynolds, a land warfare analyst at RUSI in London.
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