Kremlin says too early to draw conclusions on talks

The Kremlin said on Tuesday that it was too soon to draw any conclusions from talks to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, as fighting intensified around the capital Kyiv.

"The work is complex, but the very fact that the work is continuing is in itself positive," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"We don't want to give any forecasts. Let's wait for tangible results."

Peskov was commenting hours before the latest round of talks on Tuesday. Delegations from Moscow and Kyiv have met for four rounds of talks to find a diplomatic resolution to the nearly three weeks of fighting between Russia's army and Ukraine.

Both sides earlier raised hopes that a document might be signed at meetings held by videoconference on Monday, before both sides announced a "technical pause".

Peskov said on Tuesday that it was "too early" to discuss the format of any document that could be adopted as a result of negotiations, saying this was part of discussions between negotiators. Both sides indicated over the weekend that they were making headway.

In Kyiv, the city announced a 35-hour curfew from Tuesday evening after a flash shelling from Russian troops. Moscow warned Western governments that they should be responsible for the deaths of their own citizens who were encouraged to enlist in Ukraine.

Shortly before dawn on Tuesday, large explosions thundered across Kyiv as Russia pressed its advance on multiple fronts.

A strike on a 16-story housing block in the Ukrainian capital has killed at least two people, local emergency services said.

"The bodies of two people were recovered, 27 people were rescued," wrote Ukraine's emergency services on a Facebook post, adding that the building was located in the Sviatoshynsky district in western Kyiv.

Explosions heard

Several loud explosions were also heard in central Kyiv early on Tuesday morning.

Peskov said Russia's special military operation in Ukraine is proceeding in accordance with the original plan and "will be completed on time and in full".

Elsewhere, a convoy of 160 civilian cars left the encircled port city of Mariupol along a designated humanitarian route, said the city council, in a rare glimmer of hope a week and a half into the lethal siege that has pulverized homes and other buildings.

Vitaliy Kim, governor of Ukraine's southern Mykolayiv region, said the security situation is calmer in the area because Russian forces had been pushed back slightly from the regional capital, which they have been trying to seize.

The United States Department of State announced on Tuesday a new set of sanctions against 11 Russian defense officials, including the head of the Russian National Guard and several deputy defense ministers.

US President Joe Biden is expected to travel to Brussels next week to meet with NATO leaders. Reuters quoted one source as saying that Biden could also travel to Poland, where concerns are running high after a Russian attack on a large Ukrainian base just kilometers from the border that killed 35 people.

The European Union also approved sanctions late on Monday "targeting individuals and entities involved in the aggression against Ukraine, as well as several sectors of the Russian economy".

Agencies contributed to this story.