70 Ukrainian military personnel killed after Russian artillery hits military base

More than 70 Ukrainian soldiers were killed after Russian artillery hit a military base in Okhtyrka, a city between Kharkiv and Kyiv, reported news agency Associated Press.

This follows Moscow’s shelling of Ukraine’s second-largest city Monday, rocking a residential neighbourhood, and closed in on the capital, Kyiv, as talks aimed at stopping the fighting yielded only an agreement to keep talking.

The UN has said that at least 102 civilians, including seven children, have died in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began. Meanwhile, an embattled Ukraine moved to solidify its ties to the West by applying to join the European Union, a largely symbolic move for now.