Ceasefire talks get underway in Belarus as Ukraine demands Russia withdraw troops

Kyiv

UKRAINE demanded an immediate Russian ceasefire and troop withdrawal on Monday (Feb 28) as its delegation arrived in Belarus for talks with Russian negotiators on the fifth day of the Kremlin's offensive.

Ukraine's delegation met Russian representatives for the first talks since Moscow's invasion, as the fighting for several Ukrainian cities continues and the Russian rouble collapses.

The meeting took place just across the border in neighbouring Belarus, a key Kremlin ally that has allowed Russian troops passage to attack Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also urged the European Union (EU) to give Ukraine "immediate" membership, via a special procedure.

"Our goal is to be with all Europeans and, most importantly, to be equal. I'm sure that's fair. I am sure we deserve it," he said in a video speech shared on social media.

The talks came after Russian forces seized two small cities in southeastern Ukraine and the area around a nuclear power plant, but ran into stiff resistance elsewhere as Moscow's diplomatic and economic isolation deepened.

It was not clear whether any progress could be achieved after President Vladimir Putin on Thursday launched the biggest assault on a European state since World War II and put Russia's nuclear deterrent on high alert on Sunday.

The Western-led response was swift, with sanctions that effectively cut off Moscow's major financial institutions from Western markets sending Russia's currency down 30 per cent against the US dollar on Monday. Countries also stepped up weapons supplies to Ukraine.

Blasts were heard before dawn on Monday in the capital of Kyiv and in the major eastern city of Kharkiv, Ukrainian authorities said. But Russian ground forces' attempts to capture major urban centres had been repelled, they added.

Russia's defence ministry, however, said its forces had taken over the towns of Berdyansk and Enerhodar in Ukraine's southeastern Zaporizhzhya region as well as the area around the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, Interfax reported. The plant's operations continued normally, it said.

Ukraine denied that the nuclear plant had fallen into Russian hands, according to the news agency.

There was fighting around the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol throughout the night, Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Donetsk regional administration, said on television on Monday.

He did not say whether Russian forces had gained or lost any ground or provide any casualty figures.

At least 102 civilians in Ukraine have been killed since Thursday, with a further 304 wounded, but the real figure is feared to be "considerably higher", UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said on Monday.

More than 360,000 people have fled to neighbouring countries, according to the UN Refugee Agency.

A senior US defence official said Russia had fired more than 350 missiles at Ukrainian targets since Thursday, some hitting civilian infrastructure.

Several European subsidiaries of Sberbank Russia, majority owned by the Russian government, were failing or were likely to fail due to the reputational cost of the war in Ukraine, the European Central Bank said.

Britain said on Monday it was taking further measures against Russia in concert with the United States and the EU.

Corporate giants also took action, with British oil major BP, the biggest foreign investor in Russia, saying it would abandon its stake in state oil company Rosneft at a cost of up to US$25 billion.

US President Joe Biden was set to host a call with allies and partners on Monday to coordinate a united response, the White House said.

The United States said Putin was escalating the war with "dangerous rhetoric" about Russia's nuclear posture, amid signs Russian forces were preparing to besiege major cities in the democratic country of about 44 million people.

Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a "special operation" that it says is not designed to occupy territory but to destroy its southern neighbour's military capabilities and capture what it regards as dangerous nationalists.

The EU shut all Russian planes out of its airspace, as did Canada, forcing Russian airline Aeroflot to cancel all flights to European destinations until further notice. REUTERS, AFP

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