Russia invades Ukraine: Troubles over Kyiv-Moscow talks as fighting continues

The New Arab's live coverage of the latest on the Ukraine-Russia crisis concludes for tonight.

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Ukraine's military intelligence has published the names and contact details of 620 people it alleged were officers of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) involved in "criminal activities" in Europe.

Russia did not immediately comment on the list of names.

In a post in Russian on its official website, the intelligence arm of the Ukrainian defence ministry listed people it said were FSB employees registered at the agency's headquarters in Moscow.

"Employees of the FSB of Russia involved in the criminal activities of the aggressor-state in Europe," it said, without sharing further details on the alleged crimes.

It provided the names under a photo of the Moscow headquarters of the FSB, a successor to the Soviet-era KGB security police.

Ukraine has warned that the humanitarian crisis in the pulverized city of Mariupol was now "catastrophic", with thousands dead, as fighting surged around Kyiv ahead of new face-to-face peace talks with Russia in Turkey.

A senior Ukrainian official told AFP today that around 5,000 people have been buried in the besieged city of Mariupol.

But the burials stopped 10 days ago because of continued shelling," Tetyana Lomakina, a presidential adviser now in charge of humanitarian corridors, said by phone, adding that as many as 10,000 people may have died since the start of the Russian invasion.

"The enemy is trying to break through the corridor around Kyiv and block transport routes," Ukraine's deputy defence minister Ganna Malyar said.

"The defence of Kyiv continues. It is very serious today," she said.

"It is extremely difficult for the enemy, but we must be honest about the fact that the enemy is trying to capture Kyiv, because to capture Kyiv is essentially a captured Ukraine, and this is their goal."

Reports have said Russian entrepreneur Roman Abramovich was one of three people to experience symptoms consistent with poisoning with chemical weapons earlier this month.

The three are members of the delegation attending the peace talks between Ukraine and Russia, and the incident is reported to have happened on the night of 3 to 4 March 2022.

A Banksy anti-war artwork has sold for $106,000 with all proceeds going to a children's hospital in Kyiv.

The street art shows soldiers painting the CND logo on a wall.

MyArtBroker’s managing director Charlotte Stewart said according to The Guardian: "Such extraordinary generosity from our seller, could not have been better reciprocated by the winning bidder, whose donation of 81,000 will make an enormous difference to the lives of staff, children and their families in the weeks ahead."

In London, a unique 2005 Banksy anti-war painting was anonymously put up for auction.

▪️Trading on it will last until March 27, and all the money received from the sale will go to help the Kyiv Okhmatdyt pic.twitter.com/fdTsAvmG74

— The New Voice of Ukraine (@NewVoiceUkraine) March 21, 2022

A Russian daily critical of the government has suspended printing its paper until Russia’s invasion of Ukraine comes to an end.

Novaya Gazeta announced the move in an online statement, saying it received a warning from Roskomnadzor – the agency responsible for controlling and censoring media in Russia.

A number of Russian media outlets have been suspended or shut down recently over their critical coverage of Russia’s war on Ukraine. These included the popular radio station Ekho Moskvy and the independent TV channel Dozhd.

❗ Мы получили еще одно предупреждение Роскомнадзора.

После этого мы приостанавливаем выпуск газеты в сетях и на бумаге — «до окончания «специальной операции на территории Украины».

С уважением, редакция «Новой газеты»https://t.co/ppsun7SMGy

— Новая Газета (@novaya_gazeta) March 28, 2022

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will address Greece's parliament on April 7, parliament officials said on Monday.

Zelenskiy accepted an invitation to address the assembly virtually from its speaker, Constantinos Tasoulas, following a telephone call with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Friday.

"It's important that Greek parliament listens to the message of a president, who along with his country, is defending himself against a barbaric and illegal invasion," Mitsotakis said after an EU Summit in Brussels.

Zelenskiy's address is scheduled to start at noon (0900 GMT).

Nearly 4 million people in Ukraine have now fled the country, the UN has said.

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, reported that 3,862,797 Ukrainians fled since the 24 February invasion of Ukraine, around 90 percent of them women and children.

Around 2.2 million found refuge in Poland and more than half a million in Romania.

More than 10 million Ukrainians have fled their homes since the invasion, including 6.5 million internally displaced.

Russian forces are regrouping in Ukraine but will not be able to take the capital Kyiv, Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar said on Monday.

She said that Russian forces will be able to reinforce positions already occupied in Ukraine but had no hope of capturing Kyiv.

"As of today, the enemy is regrouping its forces, but they cannot advance anywhere in Ukraine," she told a briefing.

The mayor of the besieged city of Mariupol said on Monday that all civilians must be evacuated to avoid a major humanitarian catastrophe.

Around 160,000 civilians were still trapped in Mariupol which is without heat and power and has been subjected to weeks of Russian bombardment.

The population of the city is usually around 400,000.

"The situation in the city remains difficult. People are beyond the line of humanitarian catastrophe," Boichenko said on national television. "We need to completely evacuate Mariupol."

He added: "The Russian Federation is playing with us. We are in the hands of the invaders."

Russia said talks in Turkey with Ukraine could begin on Tuesday, which it is hoped will end the one-month war.

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan by telephone on Sunday about launching new face-to-face talks with Ukraine.

Turkey is perceived as the ideal host for peace talks due to the good relations Ankara enjoys with both Ukraine and Russia.

It will host peace talks between the two sides this week.

Heineken is the latest multinational to say it will leave the Russian market following the invasion of Ukraine.

A long list of multinational corporations - including McDonald's - have departed - or plan - from Russia following international uproar over assault on Ukraine.

The Dutch brewer announced on Monday it was also pulling out of Russia.

"Following the previously announced strategic review of our operations, we have concluded that Heineken's ownership of the business in Russia is no longer sustainable nor viable in the current environment," said Heineken in a statement.

"As a result, we have decided to leave Russia."

Turkey could offer Ukraine a security guarantee as part of a peace deal with Russia, a senior Ukrainian official said on Monday.

"Turkey is among those countries that could become guarantors of our security in the future," Ihor Zhovkva, deputy head of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's office.

It comes ahead of peace talks between Ukraine and Russia in Turkey this week.

Ukraine wants legally binding security guarantees from a group of allies that would offer it protection in the event of a future attack. 

Ukraine has accused Moscow of "irresponsible acts" around the Chernobyl nuclear power station, currently being occupied by Russian troops.

Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said the presence of Russian soldiers there was "militarising" the exclusion zone around the station.

It follows the world's worst civil nuclear accident at the power station in 1986 which contaminated large parts of Europe.

Among the accusations were that Russia was sending old and badly maintained weapons to the area that could damage Chernobyl's fourth nuclear reactor.

President Zelensky said Ukraine is looking into a possible 'neutral status' ahead of talks with Russia.

One of Russia's key demands has been for Ukraine to adopt a neural status, similar to that of Austria, which would mean Kyiv not pursuing NATO membership.

"This point of the negotiations is understandable to me and it is being discussed, it is being carefully studied," Zelensky said.