Ukraine-Russia war latest: Zelenskiy says peace talks are ‘more realistic’; three EU leaders vow support on Kyiv visit – live | World news

The US Senate has unanimously passed a resolution condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin as a war criminal, a rare show of unity in the deeply divided Congress.

The resolution, introduced by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and backed by senators of both parties, encouraged the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague and other nations to target the Russian military in any investigation of war crimes committed during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Reuters quotes Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer in a speech on the Senate floor ahead of the vote:

All of us in this chamber joined together, with Democrats and Republicans, to say that Vladimir Putin cannot escape accountability for the atrocities committed against the Ukrainian people.”

Britain’s latest intelligence report appears to corroborate with information released by Ukraine’s military officials overnight.

The Ukrainian military earlier published its daily operational report, claiming Russian military leadership has approved the “early release” of cadets to fight in combat against Ukraine.

According to the report released by Ukraine’s ministry of defence, Russia is having trouble providing its troops with ammunition and “has lost (completely destroyed, or lost ammunition) 40% of units involved in operations on the territory of Ukraine”.

“The worst situation remains in the area of Mariupol, where the opponent tries to block the city in the western and eastern outskirts of the city,” military officials from the general staff of the armed forces of Ukraine added.

The UK ministry of defence has issued its latest intelligence report on the situation in Ukraine, saying Russia is increasingly seeking to generate additional troops to bolster and replace its personnel losses.

The report reads:

Russia is increasingly seeking to generate additional troops to bolster and replace its personnel losses in Ukraine. As a result of these losses it is likely Russia is struggling to conduct offensive operations in the face of sustained Ukrainian resistance.

Continued personnel losses will also make it difficult for Russia to secure occupied territory.

Russia is redeploying forces from as far afield as its Eastern Military District, Pacific Fleet and Armenia. It is also increasingly seeking to exploit irregular sources such as Private Military Companies, Syrian and other mercenaries.

Russia will likely attempt to use these forces to hold captured territory and free up its combat power to renew stalled offensive operations.”

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy provided a more optimistic view of the positions of Ukraine and Russia at upcoming peace talks saying negotiations are sounding “more realistic” while his top aide indicated there were still “fundamental contradictions” in Russia’s response.

In a national address, Zelenskiy said:

Meetings continue. I am told that the positions at the negotiations sound more realistic.

However, more time is still needed for decisions to be in the interests of Ukraine.”

However, Mykhailo Podolyak, a member of the Ukrainian delegation and presidential aide said there are “fundamental contradictions” in talks aimed at ending Russia’s military attack on Ukraine but compromise is still possible.

We’ll continue tomorrow. A very difficult and viscous negotiation process. There are fundamental contradictions. But there is certainly room for compromise.”

Talks resumed Tuesday, with both sides having signalled progress.

Zelenskiy said that the Russians “have already begun to understand that they will not achieve anything by war” and called Monday’s talks “pretty good”.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday at a press conference that “talks are now continuing on giving Ukraine neutral military status, in the context of security guarantees for all participants in this process”, as well as on “demilitarising Ukraine”, the Interfax news agency reported.

Lavrov is set to meet his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in Moscow on Wednesday to discuss the Ukraine conflict, the Russian ministry said.

China’s government on Wednesday lambasted Taiwan’s humanitarian aid for Ukraine and sanctions on Russia as “taking advantage of other’s difficulties” after the island announced it was sending more funds donated by the public for refugees.

Asked about Taiwan’s aid and sanctions at a news conference in Beijing, Zhu Fenglian, a spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said Taiwan’s government was trying to latch onto the issue for its own purposes, according to a Reuters report. Referring to Taiwan’s ruling party, she said:

The Democratic Progressive Party authorities are using the Ukraine issue to validate their existence and piggy back on a hot issue, taking advantage of other’s difficulties.

Their attempts to incite confrontation and create hostility through political manipulation will not succeed.”

Taiwan’s government says that on Ukraine it has a duty to stand with other democracies.

Late on Tuesday, Taiwan’s foreign ministry announced a second $11.5m donation to help refugees after an initial donation this month of $3.5m. President Tsai Ing-wen has gifted one month of her salary.

The war in Ukraine has garnered broad sympathy in Taiwan, with many seeing parallels between Russia’s invasion and the military threat posed by China, which views the democratically governed island as its own territory.

Taiwan has joined in Western-led sanctions on Russia, while China has refused to condemn the Russian invasion, saying last week the Chinese Red Cross would provide humanitarian assistance worth 5 million yuan ($786,000) to Ukraine, its first publicly announced aid to the country since the war.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy delivered some stern words to Russians during a late-night national address. In case you missed his earlier remarks, a brief run-down is here:

The third week is coming to an end. We all want peace. We all want victory. And there’s a feeling that just a little bit longer and we will achieve what we, Ukrainians, are entitled to by right.

Zelenskiy added that meetings between Ukrainian and Russian officials continue.

Meetings continue. I’m being reported that the positions at negotiations are more realistic now. However, we need more time to make sure that the decision is in the interests of Ukraine.

The president said Russia has lost masses of equipment, soldiers and Russian generals.

Many Russian conscripts have been killed. There are tens of officers among killed invaders, and one more general was killed today. The occupants committed new and apparent war crimes, shelled on peaceful cities, civilian infrastructure.

The number of rockets used by Russia against Ukraine has already exceeded 900. There are so many air bombs that it’s impossible to count them.”

Addressing Russian citizens, Zelenskiy switched to Russian:

Citizens of Russia, any of you who has had access to truthful information might have already realised how this war will end for your country: with disgrace, poverty, year-long isolation, a brutal repressive system that will treat Russian citizens as inhumanely as you, occupants, treated Ukrainians. What will come next depends on your actions.

I want to address Russian officials and everyone who is involved with the incumbent government. If you stay in your posts, if you don’t speak out against the war, the international community will strip you off of everything you have earned over the years. They are working on it. This includes propaganda, the fourth estate in Russia. If you continue working for propaganda, you put yourself at a bigger risk than you face if you just resign: the risk of sanctions and international tribunal for the propaganda of aggressive war, for justification of war crimes. Quit your jobs. Several months without a job is better than a whole life under international prosecution.”

Hello it’s Samantha Lock with you as we cover the latest developments from Ukraine.

It is day 21 of Russia’s war on its neighbour. Here is where the situation currently stands:

• Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy gave a late-night national address where he confirmed meetings between Ukrainian and Russian officials continue, adding that “the positions at negotiations are more realistic now”.
• However, Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak said there are “fundamental contradictions” in talks aimed at ending Russia’s military attack but there is “certainly room for compromise.”
• Addressing Russian citizens, Zelenskiy said the war would end in “disgrace, poverty, year-long isolation [and] a brutal repressive system”. “If you stay in your posts, if you don’t speak out against the war, the international community will strip you off of everything you have earned over the years. They are working on it,” he said.
• Zelenskiy is due to address US Congress on Wednesday and is likely to make fresh calls for a no-fly zone and requests for more military aid, including fighter jets.
• EU leaders vowed support for Ukraine during a visit to Kyiv. The prime ministers of the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovenia arrived in the capital earlier on Tuesday in a show of support for Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who briefed them on the war with Russia. Poland’s Kaczyński called for a peacekeeping mission in Ukraine, with Czech prime minister Petr Fiala saying: “You are not alone. Our countries stand with you. Europe stands with your country”.
• Nato is set to tell its military commanders on Wednesday to draw up plans for new ways to deter Russia following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, including more troops and missile defences in eastern Europe, officials and diplomats said. Ukrainian minster for defence, Oleksii Reznikov, is expected to plead for more weapons from individual Nato countries, according to a Reuters report.
• US President Joe Biden is expected to announce an additional $800m in security assistance to Ukraine on Wednesday, a White House official said as reported by Reuters news agency.
• The US Senate unanimously passed a resolution late Tuesday night condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin as a war criminal, a rare show of unity in the deeply divided Congress.
• US secretary of state Antony Blinken predicted there will be an independent Ukraine “a lot longer than there’s going to be a Vladimir Putin,” in an interview with CNN on Tuesday.
• A series of Russian strikes hit a residential neighbourhood in Kyiv on Tuesday morning, igniting a huge fire and prompting a frantic rescue effort in a 15-storey apartment building. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said five people were killed in the airstrikes.
• Russian forces have reportedly taken patients and medical staff of a hospital in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol hostage. According to the BBC, the city’s deputy mayor Sergei Orlov said there were 400 people in the hospital and the Russian army were “using our patients and doctors like hostages”.
• About 2,000 cars were able to leave Mariupol, according to local authorities.
• A woman who interrupted a live news programme on Russian state TV last night to protest against the war in Ukraine has been fined 30,000 roubles (£215) by a Russian court. Marina Ovsyannikova, a Russian television producer, was found guilty of flouting protest legislation, the Russian state news agency RIA reported.
• The UK is to impose sanctions on 370 more Russian individuals, including more than 50 oligarchs and their families with a combined net worth of £100bn. More than 1,000 individuals and entities have now been targeted with sanctions since the invasion of Ukraine, with fresh measures announced against key Kremlin spokespeople and political allies of Putin, including the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu.
• Boris Johnson will visit Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday to ask the Gulf states to produce more oil and help the UK reduce dependence on Russian oil.
• More than 100,000 people in the UK have offered homes to Ukrainian refugees in the first 24 hours of a government scheme that allows families and individuals to bring them to the UK.

As usual, for any tips and feedback please contact me through Twitter or at [email protected]

The Guardian keeps you up to the minute on the crisis in Ukraine with a global perspective and from our team around the world and around the clock. Thank you for reading and please do stay tuned.