Russia-Ukraine conflict enters second week
A child looks out from a carriage window as a train prepares to depart from a station in Lviv, western Ukraine, en route to the town of Uzhhorod near the border with Slovakia on Thursday.
Russia's war in Ukraine entered a second week on Thursday with its main assault force halted north of the capital Kiev and several cities enduring heavy bombing.
More than one million refugees have now fled Ukraine, the United Nations said.
Russia has captured only one Ukrainian city so far – the southern Dnipro River port of Kherson, which its tanks entered on Wednesday.
Russia has shifted tactics, escalating its bombardment of major cities. Swathes of central Kharkiv, a city of 1.5 million people, have been blasted into rubble.
Mariupol, the main port of eastern Ukraine, has been surrounded under heavy bombardment, with no water or power. Officials say they cannot evacuate the wounded. The city council compared the situation to the World War II siege of Leningrad.
Meanwhile, a second round of peace talks between Ukrainian and Russian delegations was due to begin in Belarus late last night, Ukrainian negotiator Davyd Arakhamia said.
Kiev plans to open the talks by discussing humanitarian corridors. A first round of talks on Monday led to no breakthroughs.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has stayed in Kiev, releasing regular video updates to the nation. In his latest message, he said Ukrainian lines were holding. "We have nothing to lose but our own freedom," he said.
Britain's defense ministry said the main body of the huge Russian column advancing on Kiev was still 30 kilometers from the city center, delayed by Ukrainian resistance, mechanical breakdown and congestion.
"The column has made little discernible progress in over three days. Despite heavy Russian shelling, the cities of Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Mariupol remain in Ukrainian hands," it said in an intelligence update.
