Bombs rain down on Ukraine, Kharkiv turns epicentre of assault

Kyiv: As the Ukraine-Russia war entered the seventh day on Wednesday, Russia renewed its assault on Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv even as both sides said they were ready to resume talks aimed at stopping the devastating war in Europe.

It was not clear when new talks might take place — or what they would yield. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had earlier said that Russia must stop bombing before another meeting. Zelenskyy decried Russia’s bombardment as a blatant terror campaign, while US President Joe Biden warned that if the Russian leader didn’t “pay a price” for the invasion, the aggression wouldn’t stop with one country.

Meanwhile, the bombardment continued with a news agency saying two cruise missiles had hit a hospital in the northern city of Chernihiv. A Russian strike also hit the regional police and intelligence headquarters in Kharkiv, killing four people. Roughly 874,000 people have fled Ukraine and the UN refugee agency warned the number could cross the 1 million mark soon. Countless others have taken shelter underground. Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said more than 2,000 civilians have died in the war so far.

In Washington, Biden used his State of the Union address to highlight the resolve of a Western alliance.“Throughout our history we’ve learned this lesson — when dictators do not pay a price for their aggression, they cause more chaos,” Biden said. As Biden spoke, a 40-mile (64-kilometer) convoy of hundreds of Russian tanks and other vehicles advanced slowly on Kyiv, the capital city of nearly 3 million people, in what the West feared was a bid by Russian President Putin to topple the government and install a Kremlin-friendly regime.

IAF aircraft evacuate 800
Four C-17 aircraft of the Indian Air Force with approximately 800 evacuees from Ukraine will be landing at the Hindon airbase here on Thursday, sources said.India has been evacuating its citizens through special fl ights from Ukraine’s western neighbours such as Romania, Hungary and Poland as the Ukrainian airspace has been shut since February 24.

Corridor for safe passage soon?
‘Russia on Wednesday said it is working “intensely” to create a “humanitarian corridor” for safe passage to Russian territory of Indians stuck in Kharkiv, Sumy and other confl ict zones in Ukraine.Russian Ambassador-designate Denis Alipov said Russia is in touch with India on the issue of safety of Indians.