Ukraine's Kharkiv bombarded with Russian artillery as ceasefire talks go in vain

Regional administration chief Oleg Synegubov said Russian artillery had pounded residential districts even though no Ukrainian army positions or strategic infrastructure were there.

Kyiv/Moscow: Russian artillery bombarded residential districts of Ukraine`s second largest city Kharkiv on Monday (February 28, killing possibly dozens of people, Ukrainian officials said, as Moscow`s invading forces met stiff resistance from Ukrainians on a fifth day of conflict.

The attacks took place while Russian and Ukrainian officials met on the Belarusian border to discuss a ceasefire. The talks ended with no breakthrough.

Russia also faced deepening isolation and economic turmoil as Western nations, united in condemnation of its assault, hit it with an array of sanctions that created ripple effects around the world. Global shares slid and oil prices jumped.

But Russian President Vladimir Putin showed no sign he was reconsidering the invasion he unleashed on Russia`s western neighbour last Thursday. He dismissed the West as an "empire of lies" and replied to the new sanctions with moves to shore up Russia`s crumbling rouble currency.

The Russian invasion - the biggest assault on a European state since World War Two - has failed to make the decisive early gains that Putin would have hoped for. But Kharkiv in Ukraine`s northeast has become a major battleground.