With the Russian invasion of Ukraine entering its 15th day, civilians remained trapped inside Mariupol desperately scrounged for food and fuel as Russian forces kept up their bombardment of the port city Thursday.
International condemnation escalated over an airstrike in Mariupol a day earlier that killed three people at a maternity hospital. Western and Ukrainian officials have called the attack a war crime.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Russian refusal to permit evacuations from the port city amounted to “outright terror.”
Meanwhile, the highest-level talks held since the invasion began two weeks ago yielded no progress, The number of refugees fleeing the country topped 2.3 million, and Kyiv braced for an onslaught. While its mayor boasted that the capital had become practically a fortress protected by armed civilians, about half of Kyiv population have fled since the invasion began.
Meanwhile satellite photos showed a massive Kremlin convoy that had been mired outside the Ukrainian capital had been dispersed and redeployed.