As it happened: Russia-Ukraine peace talks break up as huge explosions reported in Kyiv; floods worsen in NSW, Queensland as more evacuation orders issued

Good evening,

Thanks for joining us once again for our live coverage of the war in Ukraine and national developments.

In case you’ve just joined us, here’s what you’ve missed:

• Six days into its attack on Ukraine, Russian forces and its allies are focused on three key cities as civilians hunker in shelters or flee the country: Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Mariupol. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky says the country’s capital is “constantly in danger”, and Russia’s assault on Kharkiv was a crime that should not go unpunished. Russia’s Defence Minister says it will continue its military operation in Ukraine until it achieves its goals.

• World leaders are reacting to the escalating attack in Ukraine, threatening further action as Russia continues its assault on major cities.
• A ninth person has died in Queensland’s flood emergency as wild weather continues to wreak havoc around the country. In Sydney, fears of major flooding on the city’s north-western fringes are growing as forecasters escalate weather warnings. You can follow along with live developments on our dedicated flood blog for NSW and Queensland here.

Residents recover whatever goods they can in Lismore, NSW. Credit: Elise Derwin

• And, on the COVID-19 front, Victoria recorded 6879 new cases of the virus, and 18 deaths. NSW reported 8874 new cases and nine deaths, while Queensland recorded 4453 new cases and 10 deaths. The Northern Territory recorded 565 new COVID-19 cases in the latest reporting period, while South Australia recorded 1,618 new cases and two deaths, Western Australia recorded 1,179 new cases, and Tasmania reported 957 new cases.

I’ll be signing off shortly, but Latika Bourke will be here through to midnight and beyond to keep you updated.

And that’s where we’ll end today’s live blog.

But our live coverage continues on Tuesday at our new blog.

Join me there where I’ll be keeping you updated overnight: Australia news LIVE: Russia-Ukraine war spills into seventh straight day of conflict as more explosions reported in Kyiv; NSW, Queensland floods worsen as Sydney braces for torrential rain

Russia’s former president and prime minister Dmitry Medvedev has just issued a menacing warning to France.

Earlier, France’s Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told French radio that the sanctions being imposed were part of an “economic war” aimed at collapsing the Russian economy.

Medvedev, who is now the deputy chair of Russia’s Security Council warned “economic wars quite often turned into real ones.”

The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, has described Russia’s invasion as “geopolitical terrorism, pure and simple.”

Of Zelensky’s request for Ukraine to join the EU, he said the choice would have to be made “in a clear, and determined manner.”

“A few minutes ago President Zelensky looked us in the eye, he opened up his heart,” he said.

“It will be up to us as the EU to act in accordance with the times,” he said, acknowledging a variety of views held within the bloc about potential Ukrainian admission.

Volodomyr Zelensky is addressing the European parliament, one day after formally signing documents requesting emergency accession to the bloc.

Roberta Mesola, the European Parliament’s first female President, told MEPs that Europe must apply a “whatever it takes” approach to helping Ukraine.

The Ukrainian President said while he was happy to be addressing the EU Parliament, he did not realise that the privilege, when it came, would be at such a high price - the invasion of his country.

“I believe that today, we’re giving lives for values, for rights, to be equal as much as you are,” he said, according to an English translation.

Zelenensky said that the two Cruze missiles that hit the city of Kharkiv today was the “price of freedom” for his country.

He urged MEPs to show their support by granting Ukraine accession to the EU.

“Do prove that you will not let us go, and then light will live over darkness. Glory be to Ukraine,” he said.

His speech was met with thunderous applause and a huge standing ovation.

MMEPs held up Ukrainian flags. Many also draped themselves in the blue and yellow flag.

The Munich Philharmonic has fired its chief conductor Valery Gergiev, with the city’s mayor saying the Russian failed to condemn Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Mariinsky Theatre’s Artistic Director Valery Gergiev talk to each other as they visit an exhibition at the Russian military’s headquarters as part of a conference on the Russian campaign in Syria in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2018.Credit: Sputnik

Mayor Dieter Reiter said there would be no further concerts by the Munich Philharmonic under Gergiev’s baton.

“Valery Gergiev has not commented, despite my request to clearly and unequivocally distance oneself from the brutal war of aggression that Putin is waging against Ukraine and now especially against our twin city of Kyiv,” Reiter said in a statement.

“I had expected him to rethink and revise his very positive assessment of the Russian leader - he didn’t,” Reiter said.

“In the current situation, a clear signal for the orchestra, its audience, the public and city politics would have been essential in order to be able to continue working together.”

Reiter said there was no alternative left but “a complete severance of ties” with Gergiev.

At least 136 civilians have been killed, including 13 children, and 400 have been injured since Russia invaded Ukraine last week, a United Nations agency said on Tuesday.

“The real toll is likely to be much higher,” Liz Throssell, a spokesperson for the UN human rights office, told a briefing, adding that 253 of the casualties were in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in eastern Ukraine.

The UN World Food Program is scaling up activities in Ukraine so that it can support up to 3.1 million people, the program’s spokesperson Tomson Phiri said, adding: “Food supplies are running low.”

The UN refugee agency says over 660,000 refugees have fled Ukraine to neighbouring countries in the last six days.

Reuters

Western sanctions will never make Russia change its position on Ukraine, the Kremlin said on Tuesday, as Russia’s foreign minister accused Ukraine of seeking nuclear weapons.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that while direct negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv had begun, there were no plans for talks between the two countries’ presidents.

Peskov dismissed allegations of Russian strikes on civilian targets and the use of cluster bombs and vacuum bombs as fakes, but declined to give an assessment of the military situation on the ground on the sixth day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Russia’s foreign minister told a Geneva disarmament meeting on Tuesday that Kyiv has been seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, calling this a real danger that it needed to prevent.

“Ukraine still has Soviet technologies and the means of delivery of such weapons,” Sergei Lavov said in a pre-recorded address.

“We cannot fail to respond to this real danger.”

He delivered the speech to a thin crowd since many diplomats including France and Britain staged a walk-out to protest Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Meanwhile China has urged restraint from “all parties” in Russia’s war on Ukraine, continuing its efforts to express support for its northern ally without outright endorsing the invasion.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin on Tuesday reiterated China’s call for the “reasonable security concerns” of all countries to be respected, and assertion that the Ukraine issue has “a complex reality.”

With Reuters

Six days into its attack on Ukraine, Russian forces and its allies are focused on three key cities as civilians hunker in shelters or flee the country.

Ukrainian presidential advisor Oleksiy Arestovych said Russian forces were trying to lay siege to Kyiv and the northeastern city Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest.

Smoke rises from an air defence base in the aftermath of an apparent Russian strike in Mariupol last Thursday. Credit: AP

Russian troops fired artillery at Kyiv, Kharkiv and the southern port city of Mariupol overnight while the Ukrainian side shot down Russian military planes around the capital, Arestovych said in a televised briefing.

He described the current situation as under control.

The mayor of Mariupol said on Tuesday morning that the southern port city was under constant shelling which had killed civilians and damaged infrastructure.

“We have had residential quarters shelled for five days,” Vadym Boichenko said in a live broadcast on Ukrainian TV.

“We have civilian infrastructure damaged - schools, houses. There are many injured. There are women, children killed.”

Emergency service personnel inspecting the damage inside the City Hall building in Kharkiv.Credit: Ukrainian Emergency Service

Throughout the country, many Ukrainian civilians spent another night huddled in shelters, basements or corridors.

The United Nations refugee agency says over 660,000 refugees have fled Ukraine to neighbouring countries in the last six days.

The Russian military has denied targeting residential areas despite abundant evidence documented by AP reporters around Ukraine of shelling of homes, schools and hospitals.

Regional administration chief Oleh Sinehubov said that the Kharkiv administration headquarters in the city centre also came under Russian shelling.

The state emergencies agency said that attack wounded six people, including a child.

Reuters, AP

As we’ve reported, a staggering assault by Russian forces on Ukraine’s second largest city, Kharkiv, led to a huge missile strike that narrowly missed a government building and left rubble strewn through streets.

The attacks in Kharkiv stretched across the city, with some residential areas heavily damaged by Russian forces.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has strongly condemned the “murder of innocent people”.

You can watch a video wrap of the Kharkiv attack below.