Ukraine-Russia Resume Talks as Moscow’s Bombing Grinds On

Diplomatic efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine resumed Monday after a Russian shell struck a residential building in northern Kyiv, killing two people, according to Ukrainian authorities.

Russian and Ukrainian negotiators met by video. U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan was also meeting his Chinese counterpart in Rome after warning Beijing to resist what Washington has described as Russian calls for Chinese help in the war.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, said on Monday afternoon that the talks between Kyiv and Moscow had paused and would resume on Tuesday.

“A technical pause has been taken in the negotiations until tomorrow. For additional work in the working subgroups and clarification of individual definitions,” Mr. Podolyak wrote on Twitter. “Negotiations continue.”

Mr. Podolyak had said earlier the negotiators would focus on achieving a cease-fire, the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops and security guarantees for the country.

Nearly three weeks into the war, Russia has seized territory in the south of Ukraine but has been fought to a standstill around the capital, Kyiv, and elsewhere. Increasingly, its forces have resorted to bombing residential areas and civilian infrastructure in an effort to wear down Ukrainian resistance.

On Monday, two people were killed and 12 were wounded after a fire started in a nine-story building in the Obolon district of Kyiv, the Ukrainian military said. Ukraine’s state emergency service said the building was hit by enemy shelling.