Russian artillery hit a military unit killing 70 Ukraine soldiers

KYIV, Ukraine

Up to 70 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in a Russian artillery strike on the north-eastern city of Okhtyrka on Sunday, according to a local official.

Dmytro Zhyvytskyi, the head of the Sumy region's state administration, says the strike destroyed a Ukrainian military unit, and rescuers and volunteers have been working to retrieve the bodies from the rubble.

Zhyvytskyy posted photographs of the charred shell of a four-story building and rescuers searching rubble. In a later Facebook post, he said many Russian soldiers and some local residents also were killed during the fighting on Sunday. The report could not immediately be confirmed.

"Many people have died. Currently, places are being prepared in the cemetery for about 70 dead Ukrainian soldiers," Zhyvytskyi posted on Telegram.

"But the enemy also gets what he deserves," he added, saying there were "a lot of Russian bodies" in the city, which are now being given to the Red Cross. His claims have not been independently verified.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russian troops have intensified shelling of Ukraine, calling it an effort to force his government into making concessions during talks held Monday.

In a video address late Monday, Zelenskyy says that “the talks were taking place against the backdrop of bombing and shelling of our territory, our cities. Synchronizing of the shelling with the negotiating process was obvious. I believe Russia is trying to put pressure (on Ukraine) with this simple method.”

The president gave no details about the hours-long talks themselves. But he says Ukraine is not prepared to make concessions “when one side is hitting each other with rocket artillery.”

Zelenskyy says that Kyiv, the capital, remains “a key goal” for the Russians and that Russian forces have also shelled the city of Kharkiv with rocket artillery.