Ukraine seeks to join EU as round of talks with Russia ends
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — An embattled Ukraine moved to solidify its bond with the West on Monday by applying to join the European Union, while the first round of Ukraine-Russia talks aimed at ending the fighting concluded with no deal but an agreement to keep talking.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted photos of himself signing the EU application, a largely symbolic move for now that could take years to become reality and is unlikely to sit well with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has long accused the West of trying to pull Ukraine into its orbit.
Russian and Ukrainian officials held their meeting on Day Five of the war under the shadow of Putin’s nuclear threats, and with Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine running into unexpectedly fierce resistance and Western sanctions beginning to wreak havoc on the economy at home.
A top Zelenskyy adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, said the talks, held near the Ukraine-Belarus border, were focused on a possible cease-fire and that a second round could take place “in the near future.”
A top Putin aide and head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, said that the discussions lasted nearly five hours and that the envoys “found certain points on which common positions could be foreseen.” He said they agreed to continue the talks in the coming days.
As the discussions wrapped up, several blasts could be heard in Kyiv, though no details were immediately known. Russian troops, who are attacking Ukraine on multiple fronts, were advancing slowly on the capital city of 3 nearly million people and were about 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the city center, according to a senior US defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military assessments.
Messages aimed at the advancing Russian soldiers popped up on billboards, bus stops and electronic traffic signs across Kyiv. Some used profanity to encourage Russians to leave. Others appealed to their humanity.
For the second day in a row, the Kremlin raised the specter of nuclear war, reporting that its land, air and sea nuclear forces had been put on high alert following Putin’s weekend order. And stepping up his rhetoric, Putin denounced the US and its allies as an “empire of lies.”
For many, the nuclear high alert stirred up memories of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis and fears that the West could be drawn into direct conflict with Russia.
However, a senior US defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States had yet to see any appreciable change in Russia’s nuclear posture.
As the sanctions on Russian banks and other institutions took hold, Russia’s Central Bank scrambled to shore up the tanking ruble, and Putin signed a decree on foreign currency, in a bid to stabilise the ruble.
But that did little to calm Russian fears. In Moscow, people lined up to withdraw cash as the sanctions threatened to drive up prices and reduce the standard of living for millions of Russians.
Across Ukraine, meanwhile, terrified families huddled overnight in shelters, basements or corridors.
The UN human rights chief said at least 102 civilians have been killed and hundreds wounded in more than four days of fighting — warning that figure is probably a vast undercount — and Ukraine’s president said at least 16 children were among the dead.
More than a half-million people have fled the country since the invasion, another UN official said, with many of them going to Poland, Romania and Hungary. And millions have left their homes.