Ukraine says 228 killed in Kyiv since start of war

LVIV, Ukraine: Kyiv city authorities on Saturday said 228 people had been killed in the capital since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, including four children.

A further 912 people have been wounded, the Kyiv city administration said in a statement.

Reuters has not been able to independently confirm casualty figures.

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Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called for comprehensive peace talks with Moscow and also urged Switzerland to do more to crack down on Russian oligarchs who he said were helping wage war on his country with their money.

British intelligence warned that Russia, frustrated by its failure to achieve its objectives since it launched the invasion on Feb. 24, was now pursuing a strategy of attrition that could intensify the humanitarian crisis.

Russian forces have taken heavy losses and their advance has largely stalled since President Vladimir Putin launched the assault, with long columns of troops that bore down on Kyiv halted in the suburbs.

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But they have laid siege to cities, blasting urban areas to rubble, and in recent days have intensified missile attacks on scattered targets in western Ukraine, away from the main battlefields.