Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks Do Not Make Much Progress, The Death Toll And Injuries Continue To Rise

Ukrainian rescue teams evacuate the elderly from the building that was hit by the Russian attack. (Wikimedia Commonsdsns.gov.ua/State Emergency Service of Ukraine)

JAKARTA - Sieges and attacks on cities in Ukraine continue, causing the number of dead, injured, and those displaced to continue to rise, as Russia-Ukraine peace talks do not progress much.

Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, came under renewed attack from Russia as rescue teams in the besieged port of Mariupol dug up survivors from the rubble of bombed buildings.

War has become a pattern of city siege, with Ukrainian officials reporting Russian attacks on schools, hospitals, and cultural facilities.

The United Nations human rights office in Geneva, Switzerland revealed, so far 2,032 civilians have been victims of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with details 780 people killed and 1,252 injured.

In addition, some 3.2 million civilians, mostly women, and children, have now fled to neighboring countries, the UN said. A Ukrainian official said about 3,810 people were evacuated through the humanitarian corridor on Thursday, a much smaller number than Wednesday.

In Mariupol, a southern port city, rescue teams dug up survivors from the rubble of a theater that officials said had been hit by an airstrike on Wednesday as civilians took shelter there from bombardment. Russia itself denies attacking the theater.

Rescue teams dug through the rubble of the building to look for survivors. (Wikimedia Commonsdsns.gov.ua/State Emergency Service of Ukraine)

Mariupol has experienced the worst humanitarian disaster in war, with hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped in basements without food, water, or electricity. City officials said they still could not estimate the number of victims from the theater.

"Yesterday and today, despite continuous shelling, debris is being cleared as much as possible and people are being rescued. Information about casualties is still being clarified," the city council said in a statement.

Responding to the accusations, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said allegations that Russia had bombed the theater were a lie, and that "Russian armed forces did not bomb major cities".

While the northeastern and northwestern suburbs of Kyiv have suffered heavy damage, the capital itself is holding up, under curfew, and subject to deadly rocket attacks every night.

A building in Kyiv's Darnytsky district was badly damaged. As residents cleaned the glass, a man knelt down crying beside a woman's body covered in bloody sheets.

Viacheslav Chaus, governor of the region based in the northern city of Chernihiv, said 53 civilians had died there in the past 24 hours. The number of victims could not be independently verified.

One of those killed in Chernihiv was a US citizen, Jimmy Hill, who was shot dead while waiting in line for bread, his family said.

"His body was found in the street," his sister wrote on Facebook.

Firefighters try to extinguish the fire in the building hit by the Russian attack. (Wikimedia Commonsdsns.gov.ua/State Emergency Service of Ukraine)

Not only citizens and civilian buildings were affected by this war. The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday it had verified 43 attacks on health facilities in Ukraine that had killed 12 people and injured dozens, including health workers.

"In any conflict, attacks on health services are a violation of international humanitarian law," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the UN Security Council, without specifying who was to blame for the attacks.

The fourth straight day of peace talks between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators took place via video link, but the Kremlin said an agreement had not yet been reached.

"Our delegation made a colossal effort. Our delegation is ready to work around the clock, but unfortunately we do not see such enthusiasm from the Ukrainian side," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Moscow earlier said it was close to agreeing to a formula that would keep Ukraine neutral, one of its demands.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said the negotiations were complicated.

"The position of each party is different. For us, fundamental issues cannot be contested," he stressed.

Ukraine has said it is willing to negotiate an end to the war, but will not surrender or accept Russia's ultimatum. They stick to their core position, maintaining sovereignty over the territory occupied since 2014 by Russian and pro-Russian forces.

Kyiv and its Western allies say Russia is waging a war to conquer a neighbor that President Putin calls an artificial state. Meanwhile, Moscow said it was carrying out "special operations" to disarm Ukraine.