Ukraine sees room for compromise, as 20,000 escape Mariupol

KYIV, Ukraine -- Ukraine said it saw possible room for compromise Tuesday in talks with Russia, while Moscow's forces stepped up their bombardment of Kyiv, and an estimated 20,000 civilians fled the desperately encircled port city of Mariupol by way of a humanitarian corridor.

The fast-moving developments on the diplomatic front and on the ground came on the 20th day of Russia's invasion, as the number of Ukrainians fleeing the country amid Europe's heaviest fighting since World War II eclipsed 3 million.

A top Ukrainian negotiator, presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak, described the latest round of talks with the Russians, held via videoconference, as "very difficult and sticky" and said there were "fundamental contradictions" between the two sides, but added "there is certainly room for compromise." He said the talks will continue today.

Earlier in the day, another aide to Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelenskyy, Ihor Zhovkva, struck a more optimistic note, saying the negotiations had become "more constructive" and Russia had softened its stand by no longer airing its demands Ukraine surrender.

In other developments, the leaders of three European Union countries -- Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia -- visited the embattled capital, arriving by train in a bold show of support amid the danger.

Firefighters extinguish fires in an apartment building after it was hit by shelling Tuesday in Kyiv, Ukraine.Felipe Dana ~ Associated Press

Meanwhile, large explosions thundered across Kyiv before dawn from what Ukrainian authorities said were artillery strikes, as Russia's bombardment of the capital appeared to become more systematic and edged closer to the city center, smashing apartments, a subway station and other civilian sites.

Zelenskyy said barrages hit four multi-story buildings in the city and killed dozens. The strikes disrupted the relative calm that returned after an initial advance by Moscow's forces was stopped in the early days of the war.

A senior U.S. defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the Pentagon's assessment, said the Russians were using long-range fire to hit civilian targets inside Kyiv with increasing frequency but their ground forces were making little to no progress around the country. The official said Russian troops were still about 9 miles from the center of the capital.

The official said the U.S. has seen indications Russia believes it may need more troops or supplies than it has on hand in Ukraine, and it is considering ways to get more resources into the country. The official did not elaborate.

Before Tuesday's talks, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow would press its demands Ukraine drop its bid to join NATO, adopt a neutral status and "demilitarize."

Ukrainian Irina Oscaria, 21 years, resident in Spain, hugs her sister Oria Oscar after arriving with her family in Cizur Menor, northern Spain, Tuesday, March 15, 2022, after Russian's invasion of Ukraine. Oscaria's family traveled more than five thousands kilometers to arrive in Spain. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos)

In a statement that seemed to signal potential grounds for agreement with Moscow, Zelenskyy told European leaders gathered in London he realizes NATO has no intention of accepting Ukraine.

"We have heard for many years about the open doors, but we also heard that we can't enter those doors," he said. "This is the truth, and we have simply to accept it as it is."

NATO does not admit nations with unsettled territorial conflicts. Zelenskyy has repeatedly said in recent weeks he realizes NATO isn't going to offer membership to Ukraine and he could consider a neutral status for his country but needs strong security guarantees from both the West and Russia.

The U.N. said close to 700 civilians in Ukraine have been confirmed killed, with the true figure probably much higher.

Two journalists working for Fox News were killed when the vehicle they were traveling in was hit by fire Monday on the outskirts of Kyiv, the network said. Fox identified the two as video journalist Pierre Zakrzewski and Ukrainian journalist Oleksandra "Sasha" Kuvshynova, who was helping Fox crews navigate the area. Another journalist was killed Sunday in Ukraine.

New efforts to bring civilians to safety and deliver aid were underway around the country. The Red Cross said it was working to evacuate people in about 70 buses from the northeastern town of Sumy, near the Russian border.

The exodus from Mariupol marked the biggest evacuation yet from the southern city of 430,000, where officials say a weekslong siege has killed more than 2,300 people and left residents struggling for food, water, heat and medicine. Bodies have been buried in mass graves.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, a senior aide to Zelenskyy, said about 20,000 people managed to leave Mariupol in 4,000 private vehicles via a designated safe corridor leading to the city of Zaporizhzhia.

On a day when thousands managed to leave Mariupol, Russian troops seized the city's largest hospital, said regional leader Pavlo Kyrylenko. He said the troops forced about 400 people from nearby homes into the Regional Intensive Care Hospital and were using them and roughly 100 patients and staff as human shields by not allowing them to leave.

Kyrylenko said shelling had already heavily damaged the hospital's main building, but medical staff have been treating patients in makeshift wards in the basement.

Doctors from other Mariupol hospitals made a video to tell the world about the horrors they've been seeing.

"We don't want to be heroes and martyrs posthumously," one woman said. She also said it's insufficient to simply refer to people as the wounded: "it's torn off arms and legs, gouged out eyes, bodies torn into fragments, insides falling out."

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian army's general staff said Tuesday evening Russian troops had launched another assault on the strategically important city.

Fighting has intensified on Kyiv's outskirts in recent days, and air raid sirens wailed inside the capital. The mayor imposed a curfew extending through Thursday morning.

Tuesday's artillery strikes hit the Svyatoshynskyi district of western Kyiv, adjacent to the suburb of Irpin, which has seen some of the worst fighting of the war.

Flames shot out of a 15-story apartment building and smoke choked the air as firefighters climbed ladders to rescue people. The assault blackened several floors of the building, ripped a hole in the ground outside and blew out windows in neighboring apartment blocks. Rescue workers said at least one person was killed.

"Yesterday we extinguished one fire, today another. It is very difficult," a firefighter who gave only his first name, Andriy, said outside the building, tears falling from his eyes. "People are dying, and the worst thing is that children are dying. They haven't lived their lives and they have already seen this."

City authorities also tweeted an image of the blown-out facade of a downtown subway station that had been used as a bomb shelter and said trains would no longer stop at the station.

A 10-story apartment building in the Podilsky district of Kyiv, north of the government quarter, was damaged. Russian forces also stepped up strikes overnight on Irpin and the northwest Kyiv suburbs of Hostomel and Bucha, said the head of the capital region, Oleksiy Kuleba.

"Many streets have been turned into a mush of steel and concrete. People have been hiding for weeks in basements, and are afraid to go out even for evacuations," Kuleba said on Ukrainian television.

In the country's east, Russian forces launched more than 60 strikes overnight Monday into Tuesday on Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, according to regional administration chief, Oleh Sinehubov. The strikes hit the city's historical center, including the main marketplace.

He said the bodies of dozens of civilians were pulled from destroyed apartment buildings.

On Tuesday evening, Ukrainian forces repelled Russian troops who tried to storm Kharkiv from their positions in Piatykhatky, a suburb 9 miles to the north, and were able "to push the enemy back beyond its previous position," Sinehubov said on Telegram. He called it a "shameful defeat."

Associated Press writers Lolita C. Baldor in Washington, Raf Casert in Brussels and AP journalists from around the world contributed to this report.

Follow the AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine