Seven civilians, including one child, have been killed after Russian troops attacked them while they tried to escape, Ukraine intelligence said.
The cruel attack took place today when Moscow’s forces fired on an evacuating convoy of civilians from the village of Peremoha, in the Kyiv region.
This caused seven deaths including that of a child.
In a statement, the intelligence service claimed: "After the attack, the occupiers forced the remnants of the column to turn back to Peremoha and are not letting them out of the village.”
Russia has denied targeting civilians since it invaded but repeatedly has been proven to attack civilian targets.
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The seven women and children who Ukraine says died when Russian forces attacked a convoy escaping a village in the Kyiv region on Saturday were not as previously stated in an agreed evacuation corridor, the defence ministry said.
Ukraine's intelligence service initially said those who died outside Peremoha had been in a "green corridor" agreed with
Russia.
A defence ministry statement later said people had in fact tried to escape by themselves, "so they began evacuating
without the 'green corridor' agreed by the parties".
This came as France said that Russian President Vladimir Putin was not ready to make peace after Emmanuel Macron, the French President, met with him.
The invasion continues well into its third week now, after reports that the Kremlin hoped it would be over in days.
But now the conflict has spanned into weeks, with most of the country and airspace, not under Russian control.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed Moscow intended to send in new troops after his country’s forces had put 31 of Russia’s battalion tactical groups out of action.
Whilst difficult to determine Russia’s exact losses, thousands of Russian troops have died and reportedly the Kremlin has lost more tanks than Germany has in use.
Zelensky also said that 1,300 Ukrainian troops had been killed so far in the fighting.
He has also recently spoken with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Macron, who in turn spoke with Putin and urged him to consider a ceasefire.
However, a Kremlin statement on the 75-minute call made no mention of a ceasefire and a French presidency official said: "We did not detect a willingness on Putin's part to end the war".
In response to Zelensky’s calls for more Western involvement in peace negotiations, a US state department spokesperson said: "If there are diplomatic steps that we can take that the Ukrainian government believes would be helpful, we're prepared to take them."
Crisis talks continue between the two slides via video link, Russia’s RIA news agency reported.
Britain’s Ministry of Defence said that fighting continues northwest of the capital, with the main bulk of Russia’s ground forces 25km from the capital.
Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy and Mariupol remain surrounded and under heavy Russian shelling, it said.
Russia’s invasion has been met with nearly universally condemnation and drawn tough sanctions from the west.
Moscow’s brutal attacks have trapped thousands of people as the conflict has besieged cities and sent over 2.5million Ukrainians fleeing.
Ukrainian officials had planned to use humanitarian corridors from Mariupol as well as towns and villages in the regions of Kyiv, Sumy and some other areas on Saturday.
The governor of the Kyiv region, Oleksiy Kuleba, said fighting and threats of Russian air attacks were continuing on Saturday morning though some evacuations were proceeding.
The Donetsk region's governor said constant shelling was complicating bringing aid into the southern city of Mariupol.
"There are reports of looting and violent confrontations among civilians over what little basic supplies remain in the city," the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.
"Medicines for life-threatening illnesses are quickly running out, hospitals are only partially functioning, and the food and water are in short supply."
