Russia-Ukraine live updates: Russia bombards Kharkiv; high-stakes talks underway near Belarus border

Videos posted on Monday, verified by The Washington Post, showed explosions in a northeastern neighborhood of Kharkiv as Russian and Ukrainian delegations began talks.

In two clips of the attack, flashes of light appear in rapid succession as columns of smoke rise from the ground. A woman observing the barrage can be heard crying in the background of one of the videos.

In a Facebook post, Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine's interior minister, said the attacks left dozens dead and hundreds wounded.

Smerch cluster munition rockets were used in the attack, according to Mark Hiznay, associate director of the arms division at Human Rights Watch, who reviewed the videos at The Post’s request.

“This attack clearly illustrates the inherently indiscriminate nature of cluster munitions and should be unequivocally condemned,” Hiznay told The Post.

Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and open-source group Bellingcat have cited the use of cluster munitions, which disperse small, unguided explosives, in Ukraine over the past couple of days. Neither Russia nor Ukraine signed on to the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, an international treaty banning the use of such weaponry.

Russian Foreign Minster Sergei Lavrov has canceled a planned trip to Switzerland to attend meetings of the United Nations Human Rights Council and of the U.N. Conference on Disarmament, the Russian diplomatic mission in Geneva said Monday.

The cancellation was a result of the “unprecedented” ban many European countries have imposed on Russian flights and flight operators in their airspace, the statement said.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Sunday that the airspace of the 27 European Union member states will be closed to Russian-owned, registered or controlled aircraft, as part of a set of sanctions imposed on Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine.

Switzerland on Monday joined other European countries in banning Russian aircraft from its airspace, though Swiss President Ignazio Cassis noted that diplomatic flights were exempt. The country’s national carrier, Swiss International Air Lines, told Reuters earlier it was “currently not using Russian airspace for overflights” due to uncertain regulations and had canceled a flight from Zurich to Moscow scheduled for Monday.

Few details were available about Lavrov’s planned trip or the reasons for its cancellation.

Geneva on Monday morning hosted the opening of the 49th regular session of the United Nations Human Rights Council. According to the U.N., the meeting included “an emergency debate on the situation in Ukraine,” in which representatives of Ukraine and Russia “spoke as countries concerned.”

With petitions, poetry and one-man protests, a small but increasingly bold contingent of Chinese residents has spoken out against Moscow’s incursions against Ukraine directly contradicting their own government’s firm support of its Russian partner.

While such voices have been nearly drowned out by a deafening chorus of pro-Russian and anti-Western sentiment, their opinions show opposition to China’s new tilt toward Russia as it seeks to shore up the alliance to counter Western influence.

The overwhelming pro-Russian sentiment, as well as the few pro-Ukrainian voices, underline the delicate position that Chinese leaders are in as they try to navigate a geopolitical landscape where Beijing has little experience. China has been walking a fine line between maintaining solidarity with Moscow while not directly endorsing the attack — an approach that has earned it criticism from other countries as well as Chinese citizens.

By train, bus, car and on foot, more than 500,000 people have fled Ukraine, the United Nations refugee agency said Monday. Since Russia’s attack began last week, shattered and exhausted families are seeking safety in neighboring countries such as Poland and Hungary.

Some people boarded trains and buses without even having a clear destination in mind — they just wanted out of key cities and apartment buildings being bombarded by Russian shelling.

They carried their children, suitcases and their beloved pets, while others said emotional goodbyes to the husbands, fathers, partners and other loved ones they were leaving behind, who said they were staying in Ukraine to fight for their country, for freedom and for Europe.

Photos captured by Washington Post photographers and others showed crowded platforms and chaos at key transport hubs. Some people slept on floors, while others soothed screaming children.

Ukrainian officials have asked European citizens of all stripes to join their fight against Russia — and some nations are responding approvingly to the call.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his officials over the weekend announced a new volunteer force for foreign fighters, called the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine, and urged volunteers to join through their local Ukrainian embassies. Zelensky said “anyone who wants to join the defense of Ukraine, Europe and the world can come and fight side by side with the Ukrainians against the Russian war criminals.”

In statements and votes, officials in various European nations have allowed or appeared to encourage their nationals to fight on behalf of Ukraine — a move Ed Arnold, a research fellow for European security at the London-based Royal United Services Institute think tank, characterized as a “catchy” but impractical political line.

On Monday, lawmakers in Latvia voted unanimously to allow Latvian citizens to fight in Ukraine, according to Reuters. And in Denmark, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Sunday that fighting in Ukraine is “a choice that anyone can make.”

“This goes for all Ukrainians who live here, but also for others who think they can contribute directly to the conflict,” Frederiksen said during a news conference. “There is nothing at first sight that would legally prevent someone from going to Ukraine to participate in the conflict, on the Ukrainian side.”

Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss told the BBC on Sunday that she supported people in Britain who might want to travel to Ukraine to join the fight, adding that Ukrainians were fighting for freedom, “not just for Ukraine but for the whole of Europe.”

But on Monday, U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace was asked about her comments on Sky News and said there are “better ways” for civilians to “contribute to the security of Ukraine.”

While he agreed with Truss that Ukraine is defending democracy, Wallace said, traveling to Ukraine can be dangerous for people with no military background.

“If you’re keen to help and you’re a United Kingdom citizen, come and join our armed forces,” he said.

Jennifer Hassan contributed to this report.

Maurice “Mo” Creek, a former college standout at Indiana and George Washington, said Sunday he was “stuck” in Ukraine, where he has been playing professionally since January.

“Every day I’m on the phone with my agent, trying to get out of here as soon as possible,” Creek told Fox News. “Hopefully, I can get to one of these borders and get out of here.”

In an interview Sunday with basketballnews.com, Creek told former NBA player Etan Thomas that he was speaking from a bomb shelter in the basement of his apartment complex, where some neighbors had turned wooden pallets into makeshift beds.

“I’ve been going back and forth between my apartment and the bomb shelter that they put me in to be safe, because the war is going on around our area,” the 31-year-old said. “So we just have to be as safe as possible, keep our heads held low.”

TEL AVIV — Israel announced Monday that it will support a U.N. General Assembly resolution condemning Russia for invading Ukraine after having refused an earlier American request to vote against Russia in a similar U.N. forum.

“Israel has been and will be on the right side of history,” said Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid in a briefing with journalists. “Our organizing principle is clear: We are taking care of Israelis, we are taking care of Jews, and our hearts are with the people of Ukraine.”

Israel last week rejected a U.S. request to co-sponsor the U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Russia. The General Assembly vote is expected Monday or Tuesday, Lapid said.

Since the Russian invasion last week, Israel has increasingly expressed support for Ukraine but has stopped short of publicly criticizing Russia. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has said that Israel is maintaining a “measured and responsible policy.”

Russia has a large military presence in Syria on Israel’s northern border and is a strategic ally with Iran, Israel’s primary rival in the region. Lapid said that the United States was and is Israel’s most important ally and that the United States “understood” Israel’s sensitive security position: the Russian presence in Syria and the sizable Jewish and Israeli community remaining in Ukraine.

He added that Israel will continue to provide humanitarian assistance to Ukraine. Israel will airlift 100 tons of water purification kits, medical equipment, drugs, tents, blankets, sleeping bags and other equipment Monday evening to Poland, where hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have fled. It is the first of three planes scheduled to leave for Ukraine on Monday and Tuesday.

In recent days, thousands of Israelis have taken to the street to condemn the Russian invasion and call on Israel to do more to help Ukraine. On Monday morning, a small demonstration outside the Knesset called on Bennett to sell Iron Dome antimissile defense systems to Ukraine. The sale was blocked by Israel, expressing concerns that it would damage its relations with Russia, according to a recent report on the Israeli news site Ynet.