Russia-Ukraine War LIVE Updates: Kremlin Says Talks with Ukraine Continue, No Deal Yet

Russia-Ukraine War LIVE Updates: the Kremlin on Thursday said Russia was putting colossal energy into talks on a possible peace deal with Ukraine that could swiftly stop the Russian military operation there. “Our delegation is putting in colossal effort and demonstrates more readiness towards them than the other side,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “Agreeing such a document, the observance of all its parameters and

Russian forces dropped a powerful bomb on a theatre in the encircled Ukrainian port city of Mariupol where hundreds of civilians were sheltering on Wednesday, Ukraine’s foreign ministry on Thursday said. The ministry said many people were trapped in the theatre and accused Russia of committing a war crime. It said the number of casualties was not yet known. Reuters could not independently verify the information.

In a series of tweets on Thursday, US President Joe Biden lambasted the Russian leadership and called Vladimir Putin a “war criminal” for “inflicting appalling devastation and horror on Ukraine” as Moscow continued to shell Ukrainian cities.

“Putin is inflicting appalling devastation and horror on Ukraine — bombing apartment buildings and maternity wards. Yesterday, we saw reports that Russian forces were holding hundreds of doctors and patients hostage. These are atrocities. It is an outrage to the world. The world is united in our support for Ukraine — and in our determination to make Putin pay a very heavy price for attacking Ukraine,” Biden said.

“America is leading this effort — together with our allies and partners — providing enormous levels of security and humanitarian assistance,” he asserted, as he formally announced his administration was sending an additional USD 800 million in military assistance to Ukraine.

Russia denies targeting civilians. In Moscow, the defence ministry said its forces had not struck the building and instead accused the Azov Battalion, a far-right Ukrainian militia, of blowing it up, RIA news agency said.