Uncertainties remain as Russia-Ukraine talk ends

Russian and Ukrainian officials met in Belarus on Monday for talks on the conflict between the two nations, concluding with an agreement to continue the discussions.

Vladimir Medinsky, a top aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, said that the first talks between the two sides since the start of the hostilities lasted nearly five hours and that the envoys "found certain points on which common positions could be foreseen".

He said they agreed to continue the discussions.

Putin denounced the US and its allies on Monday as Ukraine moved to join the European Union.

"All [the US] satellites not only dutifully agree, sing along to its music, but also copy its behavior, and enthusiastically accept the rules they are offered. Therefore, with good reason, we can confidently say that the entire so-called Western bloc, formed by the United States in its own image and likeness, all of it is an empire of lies," Putin said Monday.

Video from Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, 300 miles southeast of Kyiv, showed residential areas being shelled. Authorities said at least seven people had been killed and dozens injured.

"I believe Russia is trying to put pressure (on Ukraine) with this simple method," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said late Monday, in reference to the bombings. He did not offer details on the talks but said that Kyiv would not make concessions "when one side is hitting each other with rocket artillery".

In other developments, the US announced it was expelling 12 members of Russia's United Nations mission, accusing them of spying.

"The US authorities have undertaken another hostile action against the Russian mission to the United Nations, grossly violating the commitments of the host country agreement that they undertook," Russia's ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia said Monday.

The UN General Assembly opened its first emergency session in decades, with Assembly President Abdulla Shahid calling for an immediate cease-fire and "a full return to diplomacy and dialogue".

The talks between Ukraine and Russia began on Monday noon local time in the Gomel region of Belarus.

The Russian delegation included officials from the foreign and defense ministries and Putin's office, while the Ukrainian side sent six senior officials, including Oleksiy Reznikov, the Ukrainian defense minister.

The talks were held as Russia is working on a plan to evacuate its citizens from European nations. Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency and the Federal Tourism Agency revealed Sunday that they were working with the Russian Foreign Ministry to evacuate Russian citizens from European nations as those nations continue to impose sanctions on Russia while cutting off Russian aircraft from their airspaces.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Monday that Russian forces had established "total air superiority" over Ukraine.

"Since the beginning of the operation, Russian forces have hit 1,114 Ukrainian military infrastructure facilities ... destroyed 314 tanks and other armored vehicles, 57 multiple rocket-launch systems, 121 field artillery pieces and mortars," he said.

Ukraine's military estimated some 5,300 Russian personnel losses, without specifying how many were killed or captured.

Oleg Sinegubov, a regional official, earlier had said that Kharkiv had been brought under Ukrainian control, and the army was expelling Russian forces.

Moscow said it was besieging the cities of Kherson and Berdyansk. Both are located close to the Crimean Peninsula.

As Western sanctions on Russian banks and other institutions took hold, the ruble plunged, and Russia's central bank scrambled to shore it up, as did Putin, signing a decree restricting foreign currency.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.