INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
A series of powerful explosions rocked residential districts of Kyiv early Tuesday killing two people, just hours before talks between
Ukraine and Russia were set to resume.The airport in the eastern city of Dnipro also came under heavy bombardment overnight, as the leaders
into Russia's invasion of its pro-Western neighbour, the human toll of the deadly conflict was increasingly laid bare, with more than
Klitschko said Tuesday a 35-hour curfew would come into effect from 8:00 p.m
to get prepared to stay at home for two days, or if the sirens go off, in the shelters."Four large blasts were heard from the center of the
capital early Tuesday, sending columns of smoke high into the sky.'Are you alive?'As dawn broke the damage became clear, with one strike
hitting a large 16-story housing block.There, a fire raged and smoke billowed from the charred husk of the building, as emergency services
and stunned locals navigated an obstacle course of glass, metal and other debris littering the road.Another residential building in the
Podilsk area also came under attack."At 4:20 everything was very thunderous, crackling
I got up, my daughter ran to me with a question: 'Are you alive?'," Lyubov Gura, 73, told AFP minutes after rescuers let her and her
daughter out of her 11th-floor apartment.She was still waiting for emergency workers to lower her son-in-law and grandson to the ground.The
district was once "a place to get coffee and enjoy life
while residents are stockpiling food and medicine.Overnight shelling also caused massive damage at the airport in the eastern Ukrainian city
of Dnipro, regional authorities said Tuesday."During the night the enemy attacked the Dnipro airport
address sounding a note of cautious optimism about ongoing peace talks.EU leaders to KyivHe claimed Russia was realising victory would not
come on the battlefield."They have already begun to understand that they will not achieve anything by war," Zelenskiy said.He said Monday's
talks were "pretty good..
They will continue" Tuesday.The two sides are still far apart in the negotiations, with Moscow demanding Ukraine turn away from the West and
recognize Moscow-backed breakaway regions.Ukrainian negotiators say they want "peace, an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian
troops."In an unprecedented show of solidarity with the embattled president, the Polish, Czech and Slovenian prime ministers boarded a train
for Kyiv to meet Zelenskiy on Tuesday."In such crucial times for the world, it is our duty to be in the place where history is being made,"
military progress has been slow and costly, with Moscow apparently underestimating the strength of Ukrainian resistance.Military experts
believe Russia's military now needs time to regroup and resupply its troops, paving the way for a possible pause or slowdown in
fighting.'Stop the war'The head of Russia's national guard Viktor Zolotov has reportedly admitted the operation was "not going as fast as
what one United States official said were several hours of "very candid" talks between high-ranking United States and Chinese officials.On
Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said his nation does not want to be impacted by Western sanctions on Russia, as United States
pressure grows on Beijing to withdraw support from Moscow."China is not a party to the crisis, still less wants to be affected by the
sanctions," Wang said.Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his forces "to hold back on any immediate assault on large cities"
according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov Monday, who cited "civilian losses" as the reason for stalling an attack.He added, however,
that the Defense Ministry "does not rule out" the possibility of putting large cities "under its full control."Meanwhile, Ukraine's allies
have piled pressure on Putin's regime with unprecedented economic sanctions, and the Kremlin faces domestic pressure despite widespread
censorship of the war.During Russia's most-watched evening news broadcast on Monday, a dissenting employee entered the studio holding up a
poster saying "Stop the war
Don't believe the propaganda."An opposition protest monitor said the woman, an editor at the tightly controlled state broadcaster Channel
One, was detained following the episode.Across Ukraine, Russia's invasion has continued to take a bloody toll, destroying cities and
ensuring that many lives will never be the same again."They say that he is too severely burned, that I won't recognize him," sobbed Lidiya
Tikhovska, 83, staring at the spot where a paramedic said the remains of her son Vitaliy lay following a missile strike in Kyiv."I wish
Russia the same grief I feel now," she said, tears rolling down her cheeks as she clung to her grandson's elbow for support.A
said, a day after a United States journalist was shot dead in Irpin, a frontline Kyiv suburb.
