Russia and Ukraine on Wednesday agreed to a second spherical of peace talks at the same time as Russian troops stepped up their assault of the important thing cities of Kharkiv and Kherson and neared the capital of Kyiv, whereas defiant Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared his nation won’t ever give up as a brutal battle that has drawn world condemnation enters its second week.

Officers from the 2 international locations are anticipated to fulfill Thursday, although the precise particulars and parameters of these talks are unclear.

Russian officers signaled that they might take a tough line in negotiations. Overseas Minister Sergey Lavrov once more accused the West of sparking the battle by rejecting a bunch of Kremlin calls for, together with guarantees that Ukraine would by no means be part of NATO.

Within the face of a mounting wall of worldwide disapproval and a tougher-than-expected struggle on the bottom, the Kremlin confirmed little willingness to again off its unprovoked assault.

Mr. Zelenskyy once more sought to rally the Ukrainian individuals, who’ve mounted a formidable displaying in opposition to their a lot bigger, better-equipped foe. He mentioned a Russian victory in his nation is “inconceivable.”

“It won’t occur with rockets, it won’t occur with bombs, tanks, any strikes,” Mr. Zelenskyy mentioned in a speech, in accordance with English-language media translations. “We’re on our land, and there will likely be a global tribunal to prosecute them for the battle in opposition to us.”

Russia’s public relations blitz to justify the assault on its neighbor has faltered badly. Within the newest signal of worldwide opposition, the U.N. Normal Meeting in New York voted overwhelmingly to sentence the battle. Solely Cuba, Belarus, North Korea and Syria sided with Moscow in a debate that Russian diplomats tried fiercely to forestall.

Because the Biden administration ramped up financial sanctions on Russia and its ally Belarus and launched a Justice Division unit concentrating on rich oligarchs in Moscow, Russian forces continued a brutal assault on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest metropolis. Missiles reportedly hit the town’s regional police constructing, intelligence headquarters and different services. 

“Kharkiv at present is the Stalingrad of the twenty first century,” mentioned Oleksiy Arestovich, a prime adviser to the Ukrainian president. He was referring to one of many bloodiest conflicts of World Conflict II wherein Soviet defenders held off an enormous Nazi invading pressure.

Regardless of some early reverses, Russian forces continued to advance on the port cities of Kherson and Mariupol within the south. Russian troops had been reportedly answerable for a lot of Kherson as of Wednesday afternoon.

In Mariupol, at the least one teenager died and two extra had been wounded by obvious Russian shelling. Their households instructed The Related Press that they had been enjoying soccer close to a faculty. It was only one instance of the horror gripping the Ukrainian inhabitants.

A 40-mile Russian navy convoy approached Kyiv from the north, although U.S. officers mentioned the caravan was shifting a lot slower than anticipated due to gas shortages and different logistical challenges. Nonetheless, there have been rising fears that Russia was making ready for a prolonged siege of the capital metropolis, maybe aiming to chop off its meals and gas provides.

Regime change in Kyiv now seems to be Russian President Vladimir Putin’s final aim, regardless of his claims that Russian troops wished solely to safe peace in Ukraine’s disputed Donbas area.

International condemnation

With 1000’s already lifeless, Russia confirmed indicators that it was ready to dramatically escalate the battle. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, mentioned on the emergency U.N. Normal Meeting debate that there’s proof that Russia is ready to make use of extra banned weapons to subdue the Ukrainian resistance.

“That features cluster munitions and vacuum bombs, that are banned below the Geneva Conference,” she mentioned.

Widespread use of such weapons would underscore a change in Russian techniques after its hope for a swift, straightforward victory shortly dissolved and the Zelenskyy authorities skillfully rallied world opinion in opposition to the invaders. 

Russia acknowledged for the primary time Wednesday that it had suffered casualties and put the quantity killed at 498. Ukrainian officers mentioned the true determine is within the 1000’s. Russian officers mentioned 2,870 Ukrainian troopers had been killed, although Kyiv disputed that determine. 

Ukrainian officers mentioned 2,000 civilians had been killed and practically 6,000 Russian troops had died. Pentagon officers instructed the Reuters information company that the Russian numbers had been suspect. Neither facet’s claims may very well be independently verified.

Some 830,000 Ukrainians have fled to neighboring international locations to keep away from the preventing, in accordance with a United Nations estimate, and lots of extra have been displaced contained in the nation. The lead U.N. human rights workplace confirmed that 227 civilians had been killed and 525 injured in simply the primary six days of preventing.

Russia confronted unprecedented condemnation on the world stage simply hours after President Biden used his first State of the Union deal with to challenge Western unity and solidarity with Ukraine.

“As 141 member states of the United Nations know, extra is at stake even than the battle in Ukraine itself. This can be a risk to the safety of Europe and your complete rules-based order,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken instructed reporters after the vote.

Russia disregarded the vote and caught to its claims that Ukraine and its Western allies, together with the U.S., had been guilty for the battle.

“The West refused to cooperate with us on establishing a brand new European safety structure,” Mr. Lavrov mentioned in an interview with al Jazeera.

Thirty-five nations, together with China and India, abstained from the U.N. vote. Beijing’s communist authorities confirmed that it could not be part of a wide-ranging sanctions marketing campaign by the U.S. and different international locations in opposition to Russia. China mentioned it opposes “unilateral” measures and doubts they might be efficient.

China, which not too long ago signed a broad cooperation settlement with Russia ratifying their joint opposition to the U.S.-led liberal worldwide order, mentioned it’ll proceed to purchase Russian pure gasoline and won’t observe the monetary sanctions designed to starve the funding for Moscow’s navy invasion of Ukraine.

“So far as monetary sanctions are involved, we’re not in favor of such unilaterally initiated sanctions as a result of they aren’t efficient and haven’t any authorized foundation,” Guo Shuqing, chairman of the China Banking and Insurance coverage Regulatory Fee and the nation’s chief banking regulator, mentioned throughout a press convention on the State Council Data Workplace, in accordance with the state-controlled International Instances information web site.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby mentioned China’s public statements revealed tacit assist for the Russian invasion. China’s Overseas Ministry in current days has tried to reasonable Beijing’s overt backing for the Russian navy motion by mentioning Ukrainian sovereignty, he mentioned.

“However we haven’t seen China be part of the checklist of nations which have enacted sanctions on Russia,” Mr. Kirby instructed reporters on the Pentagon. “We haven’t seen the Chinese language blame Mr. Putin for the violence he’s inflicting. As a substitute, they’ve been blaming the US, extremely.”

Mr. Blinken introduced plans for a diplomatic journey to Brussels and the NATO states in Jap Europe bordering Russia and Ukraine.

He mentioned Washington would assist any diplomatic deal supported by Kyiv to halt the preventing and get the Russian troops to withdraw.

“If there are diplomatic steps that we will take that the Ukrainian authorities believes could be useful, we’re ready to take them, at the same time as we proceed to assist Ukraine’s capacity to defend itself,” he mentioned. The journey will embrace stops in Poland and Moldova, which have accepted giant numbers of Ukrainian refugees, and the Baltic states.

Suppressing dissent

China’s reluctance could hamper the worldwide sanctions marketing campaign, however there are clear indicators that the Russian economic system is struggling. Mr. Biden mentioned in his Tuesday evening deal with that the U.S. will go additional and particularly goal influential billionaires in Mr. Putin’s inside circle. 

“We’re becoming a member of with our European allies to seek out and seize your yachts, your luxurious flats, your personal jets. We’re coming on your ill-begotten positive factors,” Mr. Biden instructed a joint session of Congress on Wednesday evening originally of his State of the Union speech.

Legal professional Normal Merrick Garland on Wednesday formally rolled out that initiative, dubbed Activity Drive KleptoCapture. The administration additionally unleashed financial sanctions on Belarus, a key Russian ally that has provided its territory as a staging floor for Russian troops now invading Ukraine from the north.

Mr. Putin, Mr. Lavrov and different Russian officers have remained defiant within the face of these sanctions. Nonetheless, there are indications {that a} potential financial disaster and a wildly unpopular battle are having an influence on the Russian inhabitants. Widespread protests have erupted in main Russian cities within the week because the assault started.

On Wednesday, jailed Russian opposition chief Alexei Navalny referred to as for Russians to face as much as the “insane czar” Mr. Putin by holding anti-war demonstrations and to not concern arrest in what has turn out to be a widening Kremlin crackdown on inner dissent.

“I’m urging everybody to take to the streets and struggle for peace,” mentioned Mr. Navalny, who has a historical past of main protests in opposition to Mr. Putin however is serving time at a Russian penal colony for a sentence broadly rejected as politically motivated.

“If, to forestall battle, we have to refill the jails and police vans, we’ll refill the jails and police vans,” the 49-year-old opposition chief mentioned in a press release posted on Fb, in accordance with the German information outlet Deutsche Welle.

He made the feedback amid indicators of a widening crackdown by Russian authorities in opposition to inner opposition to the battle. A key human rights group mentioned police have detained 1000’s of individuals in cities throughout Russia over the previous a number of days.

A minimum of 411 individuals had been arrested in 13 Russian cities on Monday, in accordance with the group, OVD-Information, bringing the whole detained because the Ukraine invasion started on Feb. 24 to greater than 6,400.

• Man Taylor, Invoice Gertz and David R. Sands contributed to this report, which relies partly on wire service experiences.