Russian Strikes Continue As Ukrainian Negotiator Says Talks 'Paused'

As the Russian military continues its deadly strikes against Ukraine, a fourth round of talks between the two sides on ending Moscow's unprovoked invasion failed to make progress, but are set to continue on March 15.

The discussions, which were being held via video link after three previous in-person meetings, come as Russia intensifies assaults across Ukraine.

European Union member states, meanwhile, agreed on a fourth package of sanctions against Russia, the office of the French EU Presidency announced on March 14.

The Russian military allowed a first column of cars to escape the besieged Black Sea port of Mariupol, which had been surrounded since the first week of the invasion, but blocked an aid convoy trying to reach the city.

Mariupol has suffered the worst humanitarian crisis of the war so far, with hundreds of thousands of desperate people sheltering in basements without food or water under the relentless Russian bombardment.

Russian forces shelled the capital, Kyiv, killing at least one person, while the Defense Ministry in Moscow said fragments from a shot-down Soviet-made Ukrainian missile ripped through the center of the eastern city of Donetsk, killing 23 people. It released footage of a missile on a busy street and vehicles destroyed by shrapnel.

The claim could not be independently verified.

On the 19th day of the invasion, the fourth round of talks made no breakthrough other than a planned resumption on March 15, with Mykhaylo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, saying the pause was to allow for "additional work in the working subgroups and clarification of individual definitions."

The diplomatic efforts have raised hopes that Moscow might open the way for more civilians to evacuate even as Russian forces keep up their pressure on the capital and other major cities.

Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said that some 4,000 people were able to evacuate via 10 humanitarian corridors on March 14 but that many more remained in the danger zone.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said suffering in Mariupol was "simply immense" and that the bodies of civilians and combatants remain trapped under the rubble or "lying in the open where they fell."

The fight for Mariupol is crucial because it lies in an area that could help Russia establish a land corridor to Crimea, which it seized from Ukraine in 2014.

'Who Will Bring Back Our Children?' Russian Tanks Shell Residential Buildings In Mariupol

Petro Andryushchenko, adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, said on March 14 that a local cease-fire arranged with the Russian forces besieging the city held long enough for the first cars to leave for the city of Zaporizhzhya, about 225 kilometers away.

He said about 150,000 residents had left the city using humanitarian corridors, while some 350,000 residents remained in the city.

"They are living in a dramatic situation right now. No water, no electricity at the moment in some areas," he said. "People collect snow to melt it and use it for drinking and cooking."

Some areas have been completely destroyed and it may not be possible to repair the houses in them. Some people have had to bury their loved ones in backyards, he added.

Andryushchenko also expressed concern that the situation in the city may worsen within hours.

Nine people died and another nine were wounded on March 14 when Russian forces hit a television tower outside the western Ukrainian city of Rivne, local authorities said.

Air strikes were reported across the country, including the southern city of Mykolayiv and the northern city of Chernihiv, where heating was knocked out for most of the town.

Explosions were reported overnight around the Russian-occupied Black Sea port of Kherson.

Russian forces also fired at the airport in the western city of Ivano-Frankivsk, which is less than 150 kilometers north of Romania and 250 kilometers from Hungary.

Local authorities in a district in northern Kyiv said an artillery shell hit a nine-story residential building, killing two people, and a pregnant woman who was injured last week in an air strike on a maternity hospital in the city of Mariupol died along with her unborn child.

WATCH: Thousands of people have fled the town of Irpin near Kyiv, after civilian areas came under sustained Russian attack. RFE/RL spoke to some of the people who remain. (WARNING: Viewers may find the content of this video disturbing)

In Embattled Irpin, Near Kyiv, Last Residents Remain Amid The Ruins And Bodies

U.S. President Joe Biden has sent his national-security adviser to Rome to meet with a Chinese official over worries that Beijing is amplifying Russian disinformation and may help Moscow evade Western economic sanctions.

Jake Sullivan met with China's top diplomat, Yang Jiechi, in Rome and "raised directly and very clearly" concerns over China's support for Russia, State Department spokesman Ned Price said on March 14.

Backing Russia in the wake of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine would have implications for China's relationships around the world, including with U.S. allies and partners in Europe and the Indo-Pacific region, Price said at a press briefing.

The White House said in a statement that Sullivan and Yang discussed a range of issues in U.S.-China relations, "with substantial discussion of Russia's war against Ukraine."

Ahead of the talks, Sullivan bluntly warned China to avoid helping Russia evade sanctions. "We will not allow that to go forward," he said. Russia denied it needed China's help.

SEE ALSO: U.S.-China Talks In Rome Put Beijing's Support For Russia In The Crosshairs

In Washington, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a letter on March 14 that Ukrainian President Zelenskiy will address the U.S. Congress via video link on March 16.

"The Congress remains unwavering in our commitment to supporting Ukraine as they face Putin's cruel and diabolical aggression, and to passing legislation to cripple and isolate the Russian economy as well as deliver humanitarian, security, and economic assistance to Ukraine," Pelosi and Schumer wrote in the letter.

"We look forward to the privilege of welcoming President Zelenskiy's address to the House and Senate and to convey our support to the people of Ukraine as they bravely defend democracy," they added.

While U.S. lawmakers have backed Ukraine with stiff sanctions against Russia and billions of dollars in aid and weapons to Kyiv, Zelenskiy has repeatedly called for Washington and its NATO allies to set up and enforce a no-fly zone over Ukraine.

Most U.S. lawmakers and the White House are opposed to such a move, saying it would bring NATO into direct contact with Russia's military and thus risk escalating the war.

And in an extraordinary protest, an anti-war demonstrator interrupted the main news program on Russian state TV Channel One on March 14, holding up a sign behind the studio presenter with slogans denouncing the war in Ukraine.

Russian TV News Hit By Anti-War Protest In Studio

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres sounded the alarm over Russia raising the alert level for its nuclear forces, calling the move a "bone-chilling development."

"The prospect of nuclear conflict, once unthinkable, is now back within the realm of possibility," Guterres told reporters, and repeated his call for an immediate cessation of hostilities.

President Vladimir Putin last month said that Russia's nuclear forces should be put on high alert, raising fears that Russia's invasion of Ukraine could lead to nuclear war. U.S. officials have said they have seen no reason so far to change Washington's nuclear-alert levels.

Russia and the United States have by far the biggest arsenals of nuclear warheads after the Cold War that divided the world for much of the 20th century, pitting the West against the Soviet Union and its allies.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, and dpa