Second Round Of Talks Set To Take Place As Russia Continues Shelling Ukrainian Cities

KYIV -- Russia and Ukraine will discuss a cease-fire at a second round of talks on March 3 as Russian military forces continue to press their bombardment of Kharkiv and lay siege to two Ukrainian ports.

The second round of talks aimed at ending the fighting are to be held in the western Belarusian region of Brest, but there appeared to be little common ground between the two sides.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told Reuters and CNN that Russia must stop bombing Ukrainian cities before meaningful talks on a cease-fire could start.

Vladimir Medinsky, who is an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, said on March 2 that in addition to a cease-fire, the issue of a humanitarian corridor in Ukraine will also be discussed. The Ukrainian presidency confirmed its delegation was "on its way" to the venue.

The plans for holding another round of talks came as Moscow's isolation deepened when most of the countries in the world lined up against it at the United Nations to demand it withdraw from Ukraine, and the prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC) opened an investigation into possible war crimes.

The nonbinding resolution, which "deplores" Russia's "aggression against Ukraine," was supported by 141 of the UN General Assembly's 193 members. Thirty-five members, including China, abstained, and five countries, including Russia, Syria, and Belarus, voted against the resolution.

Meanwhile, Russia's Defense Ministry on March 2 gave its first casualty estimates since launching the unprovoked invasion. It said 498 of its soldiers have died since the war started last week.

Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov also said in a video statement posted on Twitter that another 1,597 Russian soldiers had been wounded since February 24.

The numbers could not be independently verified and there was no immediate comment from Ukraine, which has said Russia's casualty numbers are close to 6,000.

According to figures released by Ukraine's General Staff on March 2, Russia had also lost 30 airplanes, 31 helicopters, and 211 tanks. Updated figures relating to Ukrainian troop losses were not released, although Ukraine recently placed the number in the hundreds.

WATCH: Residents of Melitopol, a city in southern Ukraine, gathered to protest the arrival of Russian troops on March 2 as Moscow continues its military invasion for the seventh day.

Shots Fired In Ukrainian City As Locals Protest Against Russian Occupation

Russian forces continue to bombard Kharkiv and other Ukrainian cities, but Ukraine's armed forces say that in some areas of the country the tide has turned and its forces have gone on the offensive for the first time.

As the war entered its seventh day on March 2, no major Ukrainian city had fallen, although experts have warned that Moscow appeared to be turning to devastating shelling of built-up areas before entering them.

But the General Staff of the Ukrainian armed forces announced that in some areas Ukrainian troops "are beginning to seize the initiative from the Russian occupiers."

"The enemy is trying to maintain the fighting capacity of their units, realizing that the 'easy walk' did not work," the General Staff said in a statement. "It tries to avoid direct encounters not only with the Ukrainian army, but also with civilians who block the movement of its columns. Russian propaganda ceases to operate in Ukraine and the 'liberators' realize that no one was ready to welcome them here."

The UN human rights office said it has recorded 136 civilian deaths, and more than 870,000 people are estimated to have fled Ukraine, according to the UN refugee agency. Ukraine's State Emergency Service has said that more than 2,000 civilians died in the first week of the war. That figure has not been independently confirmed.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the human costs of Russia's invasion of Ukraine were already “staggering" as he announced plans to travel to Belgium, Poland, Moldova, and the Baltics to reaffirm Washington's support for Ukraine.

Hundreds have been killed or wounded, and Russia has launched attacks on buildings and cities that "aren't military targets," he said. "The humanitarian consequences will only grow in the days ahead."

He plans to assess the humanitarian situation in Poland, which has taken in about half the more than 870,000 people who have fled Ukraine.

With fighting going on multiple fronts across the country, Britain’s Defense Ministry said Mariupol, a large port city on the Azov Sea, was encircled by Russian forces, while the status of another port, Kherson on the Black Sea, remained unclear.

Russia claimed to have taken control of Kherson, which would make it the biggest city to fall yet in the invasion. But Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said it was "still a very contested fight" and the United States was "not in position to call it either way."

Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko said the attacks there had been relentless.

"We cannot even take the wounded from the streets, from houses and apartments today, since the shelling does not stop," he was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying.

Speaking at a briefing, Kirby said Russian forces were advancing, but "we don't believe they are in the city center." There is "every indication that Mariupol will be defended," he said.

Kirby said a convoy of hundreds of tanks and other vehicles appeared to be stalled roughly 25 kilometers from Kyiv and had made no real progress in the last couple of days.

"We still assess that convoy, but more broadly speaking, the northern push by the Russians down towards the south towards Kyiv, remains stalled," Kirby said.

In Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said Russian troops had surrounded the Ukrainian capital and plan to strangle it through a blockade.

Klitschko told Current Time on March 2 that Ukrainian troops continue to disrupt such attempts by the Russian troops and have been finding sabotage groups operating in Kyiv.

"At this moment, our guys are returning a proper response to them. Even the groups that reach Kyiv's outskirts are being kicked several kilometers back, he said, adding that "we will do everything we can" to break any blockade.

Kyiv Mayor Klitschko Speaks Of Ukrainians' 'Colossal Will,' Saying 'No Iron Can Defeat Us'

The Ukrainian military has control of the town of Makariv in the Kyiv region, said Valeriy Zaluzhniy, commander of the armed forces.

The target of the heaviest Russian bombardments appeared to be the northeastern city of Kharkiv, where the city center was targeted by missile strikes.

Regional Governor Oleh Synyehubov said on the morning of March 2 that at least 21 people had been killed and 112 wounded due to shelling over the previous 24 hours.

On March 2, regional officials reported that Kharkiv's city council was struck by a missile, a day after the city's administration building was hit in an attack.

Ukrainian President Zelenskiy described that attack as a "war crime," and in a new video released on March 2 said Russian forces wanted to "erase our country, erase us all."

WATCH: Rescue operations were under way on March 2 in Irpin, near the Ukrainian capital, after an attack blamed on Russian forces hit a residential area:

Russian Attack Blamed For Destruction Of Apartment Buildings In Irpin, Near Kyiv

Synyehubov said that overnight air strikes had caused multiple fires but that Ukrainian forces continued to hold the city.

"All attacks have been pushed back. The Russian enemy suffered heavy losses," Synyehubov was quoted by dpa as saying.

Reports from Kharkiv said that Russian airborne troops had landed in the city on March 2 and that Russian forces attacked a military medical center. The Ukrainian Interior Ministry said apartment blocks had been damaged by shelling and that the regional headquarters of the national police and Karazin National University were targeted.

"There is nowhere in Kharkiv where shells have not yet struck," Interior Ministry adviser Anton Herashchenko.

WATCH: Russian soldiers have been seen looting grocery stores and banks in several Ukrainian cities. Security camera footage posted on social media showed Russian soldiers grabbing food and trying to steal a safe.

'Hungry' Russian Soldiers Loot Ukrainian Shops

In televised remarks on March 2, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said that "the Russian divisions of the armed forces have taken the regional center of Kherson under full control."

However, an adviser to Zelenskiy disputed the claim, saying that street fighting was continuing as of midday on March 2. "The city has not fallen. Our side continues to defend," Oleksiy Arestovych said in a live-streamed presidential briefing.

WATCH: A Ukrainian man was filmed taking back Ukrainian flags that had been confiscated by Russian troops in the southern city of Kherson on March 2, and then waving them in front of a row of Russian tanks parked on the central square.

Defiant Ukrainian Seizes Back Flags From Russian Soldiers

Early on March 2, the city council said much of Mariupol was without water and electricity as a result of massive shelling. The city is a key target of joint Russian and separatist forces from Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region.

Russian forces also continue to mass outside the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, where Russian missiles struck the city's television tower located near a Holocaust massacre site on March 2:

Kyiv TV Tower Hit By Deadly Russian Airstrike

At least five people were killed in that attack and more explosions were reported later that evening in Kyiv and surrounding areas. A massive convoy of artillery and armored vehicles that had extended more than 65 kilometers continues to position itself within striking distance of the capital in what Ukrainian officials see as an attempt to surround and take control of the country's largest city.

Zelenskiy expressed outrage on Twitter that the Russian missile strike on the TV tower had struck so close to the Babyn Yar memorial center, which was dedicated just last year to mark the 80th anniversary of the infamous mass slaughter of Jews, Roma, Soviet prisoners of war, and others by the Nazis during World War II.

Shortly after reports of the attacks, Zelenskiy spoke by phone with U.S. President Joe Biden.

"The American leadership on anti-Russian sanctions and defense assistance to Ukraine was discussed. We must stop the aggressor as soon as possible. Thank you for your support!" Zelenskiy said on Twitter.

A White House official said the two leaders spoke for about 30 minutes.

SEE ALSO: 'We Are United': Biden Says Putin 'Badly Miscalculated' On Ukraine

During his first State of the Union address, delivered in Washington on March 1, Biden addressed Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine at length.

"Six days ago, Russia's Vladimir Putin sought to shake the foundations of the free world, thinking he could make it bend to his menacing ways," Biden said. "But he badly miscalculated. He thought he could roll into Ukraine and the world would roll over. Instead, he met a wall of strength he never imagined. He met the Ukrainian people."

In an interview with Reuters and CNN on March 1, Zelenskiy said Russia must "first stop bombing people" before peace talks could make any headway.

WATCH: There were emotional farewells at Kyiv's main train station as more people fled the Ukrainian capital.

Tearful Goodbyes At Kyiv's Train Station As Russian Armor Moves Closer

Emergency services reported that at least 10 people were killed in the attack, which came after dozens were killed by Russian shelling a day earlier. Moscow has repeatedly claimed that it is not targeting civilian areas during what it calls its "military operation" in Ukraine.

On February 28, the office of the prosecutor of the ICC, the global criminal court, announced that it was launching an investigation into possible war crimes committed in Ukraine both before last week's invasion by Russia, which in 2014 illegally annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, and since the current invasion began on February 24.

The court already has conducted a preliminary probe into crimes linked to the violent suppression of pro-European protests in Kyiv in 2013-14, as well as allegations of crimes in Crimea following its annexation by Russia.

On March 1, Canada petitioned the ICC to probe alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Russian forces in Ukraine.

"We are working with other ICC member states to take this significant action as a result of numerous allegations of the commission of serious international crimes in Ukraine by Russian forces," Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said in a statement. "The ICC has our full support and confidence. We call on Russia to cooperate with the court."

With reporting by Reuters, AP, AFP, and dpa