• Bombardment of Ukraine cities continues, death toll mounts
• Over 2.8 million refugees are fleeing Ukraine - UN
A diplomatic effort between Ukraine and Russia is gearing up on Monday to end the war, as both the countries cited progress and set to talk again, a day after the conflict intensified in western Ukraine.
On Sunday, several Russian missiles hit Ukraine’s Yavoriv International Centre for Peacekeeping and Security (ICPS), a military base 15 miles from the Polish border, killing 35 people and wounding 134.
A US journalist was killed by Russian forces in a town outside Kyiv.
Thousands of people have died since February 24, since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched what he called a ‘special military operation’ into Ukraine.
Data from the United Nations shows more than 2.8 million refugees are fleeing Ukraine.
Failed diplomatic talk
The two countries were unsuccessful in making any progress in halting the war on Thursday, the first high-level talks between the foreign ministers since the war.
In the meeting, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov indicated that it will continue with attacks until its goals are met.
“The broad narrative he conveyed to me is that they will continue their aggression until Ukraine meets their demands, and the least of these demands is surrender,” Kuleba said in the press conference.
Raging war
Earlier on Sunday, Igor Konashenkov, a spokesperson for the Russian defence ministry, said the attack on the Yavoriv ICPS was conducted to irradicate “foreign mercenaries” that the Kyiv regime had deployed for training “before being sent to the areas of hostilities against Russian military personnel,” and to destroy the storage base for weapons and military equipment coming from foreign countries.
“As a result of the strike, up to 180 foreign mercenaries and a large consignment of foreign weapons were destroyed. The destruction of foreign mercenaries who arrived on the territory of Ukraine will continue,” Konashenkov said.
However, Ukraine said the Russian claims are “pure Russian propaganda.”
“This is not the truth,” Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesperson Markiyan Lubkivsky told CNN, further saying there are still no foreigners confirmed among the dead in Yavoriv military base.
Picture Credit: News24