Fighting near Kyiv intensifies as Ukraine and Russia hold talks

• “A technical pause has been taken in the negotiations until tomorrow. For additional work in the working subgroups and clarification of individual definitions. Negotiations continue,” Podolyak said in a tweet about the talks, which were held virtually.

A convoy of at least 160 cars carrying civilians left the besieged city of Mariupol on Monday, Reuters reports.

• "In the first two hours, 160 cars left. There are probably already many more now. The city continues to be bombed but this road is not being shelled. We don't know when the first cars can get to Zaporizhzhia as there are still many Russian checkpoints that need to be passed," Andrei Rempel, a representative of the city council who is now in Zaporizhzhia, about 140 miles from Mariupol, told Reuters.
• It's the first successful attempt at opening a humanitarian corridor for civilians to flee the city since Russia began its attacks more than two weeks ago.
• Mariupol has been under constant bombardment by Russian forces, with several reports of civilians being targeted. More than 2,400 civilians have died in the city alone, a EU official said. AP reported from Mariupol that a woman whose suffering was captured in an image that showed the immense human cost of Russia's war has died along with her baby.
• The woman was photographed by AP last Wednesday as rescue workers carried her on a stretcher following a Russian attack on a children's and maternity hospital in the city.

Earlier Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that it's "only a matter of time" before Russian missiles strike a NATO country, amid reports that Russia's invading forces had escalated airstrikes on western Ukraine over Sunday night.

• Zelensky said in a televised address that Sunday was a "black" day as Russian missiles struck from "east to west" and hit a military training base near Ukraine's border with Poland, killing 35 people and wounded 134 others, per an English translation provided by the president's office.
• Zelensky again called for a no-fly zone — which Western leaders have repeatedly ruled out due to concerns about escalating the war and potentially bringing NATO into a conventional conflict with a nuclear power.

• "If you do not close our sky, it is only a matter of time before Russian missiles fall on your territory. NATO territory," Zelensky said. "On the homes of citizens of NATO countries."

State of play: "Indiscriminate Russian shelling and air attacks are causing widespread destruction," per a U.K. Ministry of Defense intelligence update Monday.

• "Russian naval forces have established a distant blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea coast, effectively isolating Ukraine from international maritime trade," the Defense Ministry said in an update Sunday evening.

"Russian naval forces are also continuing to conduct missile strikes against targets throughout Ukraine. Russia has already conducted one amphibious landing in the Sea of Azov and could look to conduct further such operations in the coming weeks."

The big picture: While Ukraine is not a member of NATO, Poland is and U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan told CBS on Sunday that the U.S. would "defend every inch of NATO territory."

• He said even if an accidental shot struck a NATO member country, the "alliance would respond to that."

What to watch: Sullivan met with senior Chinese foreign policy adviser Yang Jiechi on Monday to discuss the invasion.

Go deeper:

• The latest on the Russia-Ukraine crisis
• Axios explains Ukraine

Editor's note: This article has been updated with new details throughout.