Multiple explosions apparently caused by missiles struck the western Ukrainian city of Lviv early Monday as the country was bracing for an all-out Russian assault in the east. At least six people were killed in the city, which has been spared much of the worst violence in almost two months of war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed to “fight absolutely to the end” in strategically vital Mariupol, meanwhile, where the ruined southeastern port city’s last known pocket of resistance was holed up in a sprawling steel plant laced with tunnels. Plumes of thick, black smoke were rising over Lviv after the explosions, which were witnessed by Associated Press staff. Lviv and the rest of western Ukraine have not been immune but have been less affected by the fighting than other parts of the country and have been considered a relative haven. Lviv’s regional governor, Maksym Kozytskyy, said six people were killed and another eight, including a child, were wounded by four Russian missile strikes. He said three hit military infrastructure facilities and one struck a tire shop. He said emergency teams were putting out fires caused by the strikes. Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi put the toll at six dead and 11 wounded, including one child. Read: Missiles cause multiple blasts in western Ukrainian's Lviv Military analysts say Russia is increasing its strikes on weapons factories, railways and other infrastructure targets across Ukraine to wear down the country’s ability to resist a major ground offensive in the Donbas, Ukraine’s Russian-speaking eastern industrial heartland. With missiles and rockets battering various parts of the country, Zelenskyy accused Russian soldiers of torture and kidnappings in areas they control. The fall of Mariupol, which has been reduced to rubble in a seven-week siege, would give Moscow its biggest victory of the war. But a few thousand fighters, by Russia’s estimate, were holding on to the giant, 11-square-kilometer (4-square-mile) Azovstal steel mill. “We will fight absolutely to the end, to the win, in this war,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal vowed Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.” He said Ukraine is prepared to end the war through diplomacy if possible, “but we do not have intention to surrender.” Many Mariupol civilians, including children, are also sheltering at the Azovstal plant, Mikhail Vershinin, head of the city’s patrol police, told Mariupol television. He said they are hiding from Russian shelling and from Russian soldiers. Capturing the city on the Sea of Azov would free Russian troops for a new offensive to take control of the Donbas region in Ukraine’s industrial east. Russia also would fully secure a land corridor to the Crimean Peninsula, which it seized from Ukraine in 2014, and it would deprive Ukraine of a major port and prized industrial assets. Read: `No surrender’: Ukrainians fight on in Mariupol steel plant Russia is bent on capturing the Donbas, where Moscow-backed separatists already control some territory, after its attempt to take the capital, Kyiv, failed. “We are doing everything to ensure the defense” of eastern Ukraine, Zelenskyy said in his nightly address to the nation. As for besieged Mariupol, there appeared to be little hope of military rescue. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday that the remaining Ukrainian troops and civilians there are basically encircled. He said they “continue their struggle,” but that the city effectively doesn’t exist anymore because of massive destruction. The relentless bombardment and street fighting in Mariupol have killed at least 21,000 people, by Ukrainian estimates. A maternity hospital was hit by a lethal Russian airstrike in the opening weeks of the war, and about 300 people were reported killed in the bombing of a theater where civilians had taken shelter. An estimated 100,000 people remained in the city out of a prewar population of 450,000, trapped without food, water, heat or electricity. Drone footage carried by the Russian news agency RIA-Novosti showed mile after mile of shattered buildings and, on the city’s outskirts, the steel complex, from which rose towering plumes of smoke. Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar described Mariupol as a “shield defending Ukraine.” Russian forces, meanwhile, carried out aerial attacks near Kyiv and elsewhere in an apparent effort to weaken Ukraine’s military capacity ahead of the anticipated assault on the Donbas. Read: Riots in Sweden against far-right group leave 3 injured After the humiliating sinking of the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet last week in what the Ukrainians boasted was a missile attack, the Kremlin had vowed to step up strikes on the capital. Russia said Sunday that it had attacked an ammunition plant near Kyiv overnight with precision-guided missiles, the third such strike in as many days. Explosions were also reported in Kramatorsk, the eastern city where rockets earlier this month killed at least 57 people at a train station crowded with civilians trying to evacuate ahead of the Russian offensive. At least five people were killed by Russian shelling in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, on Sunday, regional officials said. The barrage slammed into apartment buildings. The streets were littered with broken glass and other debris. Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov, in an impassioned address marking Orthodox Palm Sunday, lashed out at Russian forces for not letting up the bombing campaign on such a sacred day. Zelenskyy called the bombing in Kharkiv “nothing but deliberate terror.” Zelenskyy also appealed for a stronger response to what he said was the brutality of Russian troops in parts of southern Ukraine. “Torture chambers are built there,” he said. “They abduct representatives of local governments and anyone deemed visible to local communities.” He again urged the world to send more weapons and apply tougher sanctions against Moscow. Malyar, the Ukrainian deputy defense minister, said the Russians were pounding Mariupol with airstrikes and could be preparing for an amphibious landing to reinforce their ground troops. The looming offensive in the east, if successful, would give Russian President Vladimir Putin a badly needed victory to sell to the Russian people amid the war’s mounting casualties and the economic hardship caused by Western sanctions. Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer — who met with Putin in Moscow this past week in a first by a European leader since the invasion Feb. 24 — said the Russian president is “in his own war logic” on Ukraine. In an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Nehammer said he thinks Putin believes he is winning the war, and “we have to look in his eyes and we have to confront him with that, what we see in Ukraine.”

Delegations from Russia and Ukraine are expected to hold talks in Belarus on Thursday, a second round of face-to-face discussions since the Russian invasion eight days ago. In a video address to the nation early Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Ukrainians to keep up their resistance, but didn’t comment on whether the Russians have seized any cities. “They will have no peace here,” Zelenskyy said, calling on the Russian soldiers to “go home” and describing them as "confused children who have been used.” His comments come as Russia acknowledged for the first time since the start of the invasion that nearly 500 Russian troops have been killed in the fighting and around 1,600 wounded. Ukraine has not released a similar casualty figure for its armed forces. The U.N. human rights office says at least 227 civilians have been killed and 525 wounded in Ukraine since the start of the invasion on Feb. 24. Ukraine’s State Emergency Service has said more than 2,000 civilians have died, though it was impossible to verify the claim. Also read: UN Assembly votes to demand that Russia stop war in Ukraine Meanwhile, the U.N. refugee agency said 1 million people have fled Ukraine since Russian forces invaded last week. It marks the swiftest exodus of refugees this century. Also, the U.N. General Assembly has condemned the invasion and called on Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine. Here’s a look at key things to know about the conflict: POSSIBLE TALKS The Ukrainian president’s office said Wednesday evening that the country’s delegation was on its way to the second round of talks with Russia since the invasion began, but it didn’t say when it was expected to arrive. Vladimir Medinsky, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aide and the head of Russia’s delegation, told reporters the Ukrainians were expected to arrive Thursday for the talks in the Brest region of Belarus, which borders Poland. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said earlier Wednesday that his country was ready for talks to resume, but he noted that Russia’s demands hadn’t changed and that he wouldn’t accept any ultimatums. WHAT ABOUT VIOLENCE IN UKRAINE? Zelenskyy’s office reported a powerful explosion Wednesday night between the Southern Railway Station and the Ibis hotel in Kyiv. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry is located near that area. Two cruise missiles hit a hospital in the northern city of Chernihiv, the Ukrainian news agency UNIAN quoted the city’s chief health administrator, Serhiy Pivovar, as saying. The hospital’s main building was damaged and authorities were working to determine the casualty toll, he said. And in Mariupol, at least one teenager died and two more were wounded by apparent Russian shelling. The boys’ families said they had been playing soccer near a school. Russia’s 40-mile-long (64-kilometer-long) convoy of tanks and other vehicles remains outside the capital, Kyiv. The city has has been struck by deadly shelling. Russia says troops have taken the Ukrainian port city of Kherson. The Ukrainian military denies this. Russian forces have also been bombarding the country’s second-biggest city, Kharkiv, and laid siege to two strategic seaports. WHAT IS THE HUMANITARIAN SITUATION? U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi wrote on Twitter that an exodus of 1 million refugees from Ukraine to neighboring countries has unspooled over the past seven days. This amounts to more than 2% of Ukraine’s population, though some of those fleeing Ukraine are citizens of other countries. The U.N. agency has predicted that up to 4 million people could eventually leave Ukraine, but cautioned that even that projection could be revised upward. The World Bank counted Ukraine’s population at 44 million at the end of 2020. Also read: Refugee count tops 1 million; Russians besiege Ukraine ports The EU Commission says it will give temporary residence permits to refugees fleeing the violence and allow them to study and work in the 27-nation bloc. The move would need the approval of member states, which have already expressed broad support. U.N. CONDEMNATION AND WAR CRIMES INVESTIGATION The U.N. General Assembly voted Wednesday to demand that Russia stop its offensive in Ukraine and withdraw all troops, with nations from world powers to tiny island states condemning Moscow. The vote was 141 to 5, with 35 abstentions. U.S. President Joe Biden said the vote “demonstrates the extent of global outrage" at Russia’s assault on its neighbor. The resolution deplored Russia’s “aggression” against Ukraine “in the strongest terms.” General Assembly resolutions aren’t legally binding. The International Criminal Court’s prosecutor opened an investigation Wednesday into possible war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide in Ukraine, dating back to 2013 and covering the current conflict. Prosecutor Karim Khan said he did so after 39 of the court’s member states requested an investigation. Ukraine and Russia, however, are not among the International Criminal Court's 123 member states. ARE SANCTIONS HURTING RUSSIA? In Washington, the White House announced additional sanctions against Russia and Belarus, including extending export controls that target Russian oil refining and entities supporting both countries’ militaries. The U.S. is also joining Europe and Canada in closing off its airspace to Russian airlines. Additionally, Airbus and Boeing said they would cut off spare parts and technical support to the country’s airlines. The French-based Airbus and U.S.-based Boeing's aircraft account for the vast majority or Russia’s passenger fleet. The sanctions also threaten ultra-wealthy Russians who own properties across Europe and send their children to elite European private schools. Some have begun, albeit tentatively, to speak out. Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich confirmed Wednesday he’s trying to sell the Premier League Chelsea soccer club, with a price tag of at least $2.5 billion floated. He said net proceeds from the sale will be donated to benefit all victims of the war in Ukraine. Ordinary Russians are also feeling the impact of the sanctions, from payment systems that won’t operate and problems withdrawing cash to not being able to purchase certain items. Also, in a stunning reversal, Russian and Belarusian athletes have been banned from the Paralympics Games for their countries’ roles in the war in Ukraine. The International Paralympic Committee announced the about-face less than 24 hours after it had said it would allow the athletes to compete when the Games open on Friday as neutral athletes with colors, flags and other national symbols removed.