The Russian offensive continues a week after the start of the invasion of Ukraine with intense bombing of coastal cities in the south and east of the country, with the intention of creating a corridor to the Black Sea.
The pro-Russian militias of Donbas are also tightening the siege around the city of Mariupol, a city of almost half a million inhabitants on the shores of the Sea of Azov.
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The advance of Russian troops towards Kiev has been stopped on the eighth day of fighting, according to British and American intelligence.
However, the mayor of Kiev, Vitali Klitschko, reported that "the enemy is trying to break through to the capital" in a Telegram message on Wednesday night. The city was under heavy bombardment, with private houses, cars and damaged police facilities.
Putin's soldiers are "regrouping" to try to reach the capital, Kiev, after having failed in the northern cities, according to the Ukrainian army, which continues to offer a strong resistance.
Ukrainian troops also reported that a fleet of four large Black Sea landing ships - accompanied by three missile boats - was headed for the key city of Odessa in southern Ukraine.
The military said naval groups continued to seize sailors and fire on civilian boats.
Heavy fighting and shelling north of Kiev has destroyed houses and buildings in areas such as Borodyanka, northwest of the capital. Maksim Levin / REUTERS
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy promised on Wednesday to rebuild the country when the war ends and demanded that Russia pay for all the destruction caused by the Russian invasion.
In a new statement, the president assured that the state will restore "every house, every street, every city."
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday that Russia is willing to continue negotiating with Ukraine but will not stop the military operation until it meets the planned objectives.
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“We are ready to negotiate, but we will continue our operation, because we cannot allow an infrastructure that threatens Russia's security to exist in Ukraine.
Demilitarization will be completed with the elimination of this infrastructure and weapons”, he declared at a press conference with international media.
The Russian Army takes the city of Kherson while Kiev is still in combat
March 2, 202201:51
“Kiev and other Ukrainian cities are suffering from enemy missile attacks,” the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said on Facebook.
Russia reported military casualties for the first time since it launched an invasion of its democratic neighbor last week, announcing that almost 500 of its soldiers had been killed and nearly 1,600 wounded.
The UN General Assembly on Wednesday approved demanding Russia halt its offensive in Ukraine and withdraw all its soldiers, as Moscow drew condemnation from both powers and small island states.
A girl fleeing Ukraine at a shelter in Tiszabecs, Hungary, on March 2, 2022. Bernadett Szabo / REUTERS
The vote was 141 to 5 with 35 abstentions.
The vote came after the 193-member assembly called its first emergency session since 1997.
For his part, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on Wednesday opened an investigation into possible war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide in Ukraine since 2013, including the current conflict.
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Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Thursday hailed the country's troops fighting in Ukraine as heroes who will go down in history, calling the death of soldiers on the battlefield a tragedy.
He also announced that Putin would convene the Russian Security Council later in the day.
“Of course, it is a great tragedy for all of us.
At the same time, we all admire the heroism of our military," Peskov said at a briefing with journalists.
In line with Ukrainian estimates, two Western officials told Noticias Telemundo's sister network NBC News that some 5,800 Russians have died.
A US official, however, warned that estimates are extremely difficult to pin down, and have ranged from 500 to more than 5,000.
NBC News has not confirmed the figures for those killed in the conflict.
The tide of sanctions continues and this Thursday the Swedish furniture and household items chain IKEA announced the temporary suspension of its activities in Russia and Belarus due to the war in Ukraine.
“The war is already having an enormous human impact.
And it is also resulting in serious disruptions in the supply chain and in the conditions for trading.
For all these reasons, the groups of the company have decided to temporarily suspend their operations in Russia and in Belarus,” according to a statement.
IKEA reported that the decision will have a direct impact on 15,000 workers in those countries.
