200,000 people are in distress in Mariupol; Moscow will use nuclear weapons in case of threat to its existence; The West with new sanctions against Russia.

Day 27 of the Invasion of Ukraine: Zelensky called for Immediate Dialogue

Powerful bombings in Mariupol

Two “super-powerful bombs” shook Mariupol as Ukrainian authorities made new attempts to rescue civilians from the besieged southern port city.

According to Human Rights Watch, more than 200,000 people are stranded in the city, which those who managed to escape describe as “a frosty hellish landscape littered with corpses and destroyed buildings.”

Kyiv will not give up

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that if the worst comes, “we will die, but we will never give up”, speaking to the Council of Europe as Russian troops try to completely encircle the Ukrainian capital.

Earlier, a Ukrainian serviceman was killed in a drone strike at a science institute in northwestern Kyiv, AFP reporters at the scene said.

Nuclear threat

Russia would use nuclear weapons in the conflict in Ukraine only if its existence is threatened, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Peskov's comment came when CNN interviewer Christiane Amanpour asked him if he was “convinced or certain” that President Vladimir Putin would not use nuclear weapons in the context of the Ukrainian conflict.

Russia seeks “substantial” negotiations

Russia has said it would like peace talks with Ukraine to be “more substantial” after several rounds of fruitless talks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has renewed his proposal for direct talks with his Russian counterpart, Putin.

Zelensky said he was ready to put the status of the Russian-occupied Crimea and two Moscow-backed breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine on the negotiating table.

New Western sanctions

New sanctions against Russia and tightening of existing measures will be announced today after US President Joe Biden will meet with his European allies in Brussels, said US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.

Sullivan said Washington had seen no evidence of Chinese arms supplies in recent days to Russia.

Ukrainian forces are on the offensive

In recent days, Ukrainian forces have reversed hostilities against invading Russians in some areas to regain their positions, the Pentagon said.

Ukrainians are “on the offensive in places and at times,” especially in the south, U.S. Defense Department spokesman John Kirby told CNN.

Fake News Act

Alexander Nevzorov became the first prominent political reporter and commentator to be screened for spreading “false” information about the Russian military under new legislation introduced after the invasion.

Danger of using biological weapons

The US president has warned that Russia will pay a “high price” if it uses chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine.

He said Moscow's claim that the United States had helped Ukraine develop biological weapons was a “clear sign” that Putin himself was considering using biological or chemical weapons.

The Russian victims

The Kremlin-linked Komsomolskaya Pravda-based tabloid reported that 9,861 Russian soldiers had been killed and 16,153 wounded in nearly a month-long war, 20 times more than official figures. The data was quickly removed from the publication's website.

Over 3.5 million refugees

More than 3.5 million Ukrainians have already fled the country after the Russian invasion, according to the UN. More than 10 million have been displaced from their homes.

/BGNES

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