Russian airstrikes in Chernihiv, Ukraine, have killed at least 22 people, though rescue worker are still searching rubble for more casualties, Ukrainian emergency services said Thursday.
The big picture: Ukraine's State Emergency Service said Wednesday that more than 2,000 civilians have been killed since Russia invaded on Feb. 24, while the UN says at least 1 million people have fled Ukraine.
A video verified by the New York Times shows bombs hitting near apartments, pharmacies and a hospital in Chernihiv on Thursday.
As Russian and Ukrainian delegations started a second round of peace talks on Thursday, Russian forces stepped up their indiscriminate assault on major Ukrainian population centers, Axios' Zach Basu reports.
- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday that Moscow wouldn't stop hitting Ukraine's "military infrastructure" as a precondition to peace talks, though it is also targeting civilian and governmental buildings in major cities and towns with artillery and airstrikes.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin told French President Emmanuel Macron during a 90-minute phone call Thursday that his goals — demilitarization and "denazification" of Ukraine — would be achieved no matter what.
Go deeper: The latest on the Russia-Ukraine crisis