On the 16th day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Russian troops are advancing slowly towards Kyiv today, and new bombings have been reported in Mariupol (southeast). Moreover, the Russian troops launched airstrikes on the Ukrainian cities of Dnipro, Lutsk and Ivano-Frankivsk (west). In turn, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine announced that in the Chernihiv region (north) the Russian troops are suffering serious losses in the fight against Ukrainians, the invaders being demoralized and surrendering. On the other hand, the Russian leader Vladimir Putin is meeting in Moscow with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. The two will discuss the conflict, and also economic cooperation, in the context of the Western sanctions. Western countries have also imposed new sanctions on Belarus, which hosted Russian troops on its territory, troops that launched attacks on Ukraine. On Thursday, the negotiations between the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers Sergei Lavrov and Dmitro Kuleba, mediated by Turkey in Antalya, did not report any progress towards a ceasefire in Ukraine. They only discussed the promise to continue the humanitarian efforts to evacuate civilians, without any firm commitment from Moscow though. The G7 countries have announced that they will soon introduce a new package of sanctions against Russia, following one of the largest attacks by one state against another in Europe since World War II. More than 100,000 Ukrainians have been evacuated in the past two days, according to the authorities. (Radio Romania international)
