Apartment building shelled in Kyiv as talks slated on more civilian corridors

Lviv, Ukraine — Besieged Ukrainians held out hope Monday that renewed diplomatic talks with Moscow might open the way for more civilians to evacuate, as Russian forces kept up their pressure on the capital the day after escalating the offensive by shelling areas close to the Polish border.

Artillery hit a nine-story apartment building in a northern district of the city early Monday morning, destroying apartments on several floors and igniting a fire. The state emergency agency, which released images of the smoking building, said it had no immediate reports of casualties.

But the Reuters news service says state Ukrainian TV reported that at least one person was killed and three injured. Reuters also cites Ukrainian Interior Ministry adviser Anton Gerashchenko as saying two people were killed and three hospitalized.