More than 70 Ukrainian soldiers were killed after Russian artillery hit a military base in Okhtyrka, a city between Kharkiv and Kyiv, the head of the region wrote on Telegram. Dmytro Zhyvytskyy posted photographs of the charred shell of a four-story building and rescuers searching rubble, the AP reports. In a later Facebook post, he said many Russian soldiers and some local residents also were killed during the fighting on Sunday. The report could not immediately be confirmed.
Meanwhile, satellite photos show a convoy of Russian forces north of Ukraine's capital stretching for 40 miles. The vast convoy of armored vehicles, tanks, artillery, and support vehicles was 17 miles from the center of Kyiv and stretched for about 40 miles, according to satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies. The Maxar photos also showed deployments of ground forces and ground attack helicopter units in southern Belarus. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also says Russian troops have intensified shelling of Ukraine, calling it an effort to force his government into making concessions during talks held Monday.
In a video address late Monday, Zelensky says that “the talks were taking place against the backdrop of bombing and shelling of our territory, our cities. Synchronizing of the shelling with the negotiating process was obvious. I believe Russia is trying to put pressure (on Ukraine) with this simple method.” The president gave no details about the hours-long talks themselves. But he says Ukraine is not prepared to make concessions “when one side is hitting each other with rocket artillery.” Zelensky says that Kyiv, the capital, remains “a key goal” for the Russians and that Russian forces have also shelled the city of Kharkiv with rocket artillery.
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