Zelenskiy says Russia’s position in negotiations is becoming ‘more realistic’ as

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said he sees possible room for compromise in talks with Russia ahead of a fresh round of discussions, despite Moscow’s stepped up bombardment Kyiv and as fears for the port city of Mariupol deepened.

“The meetings continue, and, I am informed, the positions during the negotiations already sound more realistic. But time is still needed for the decisions to be in the interests of Ukraine,” Zelenskiy said in a video address early on Wednesday.

“Efforts are still needed, patience is needed,” he said. “Any war ends with an agreement.”

Top Ukrainian negotiator, presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak, said there were “fundamental contradictions” between the two sides but added that “there is certainly room for compromise.” Another aide to Zelenskiy, Ihor Zhovkva, said the negotiations had become “more constructive” and that Russia had softened its stand by no longer airing its demands that Ukraine surrender. Talks were set to resume via video link on Wednesday.

As the war approached its third week and heavy shelling of Ukraine’s cities continued, US president Joe Biden signed off on $13.6bn in aid. Zelenskiy thanked president Joe Biden and “all the friends of Ukraine” for the new support.

An update from the Ukraine ministry of defence on Wednesday said the “worst situation remains in the area of Mariupol, where the opponent tries to block the city in the western and eastern outskirts of the city.” It came as the Associated Press reported Russian troops had seized a hospital in Mariupol and took about 500 people hostage during another assault on the southern port city late Tuesday, regional leader Pavlo Kyrylenko said.

The Ukrainian president is due to address US Congress on Wednesday and Nato military commanders will also meet in Brussels to draw up plans for new ways to deter Russia, including more troops and missile defences in eastern Europe, officials and diplomats said.

Ministers will hear from their Ukrainian counterpart Oleksii Reznikov, who is expected to plead for more weapons from individual Nato countries, as Russian attacks on Ukraine’s cities continue.

Earlier, Zelenskiy acknowledged that Ukraine will not become a Nato member, in a significant concession on a day when the invading force tightened its grip on the capital.

Leaders of three European Union countries — Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia — met in Kyiv on Tuesday, arriving by train in a bold show of support amid the danger.

In a press conference after the meeting Czech prime minister Petr Fiala told Ukrainians “Europe stands with you”.

“The main goal of our visit and the main message of our mission is to say to our Ukrainian friends that they are not alone,” Fiala said.

In other developments:

• The US senate passed a unanimous resolution condemning Russian president Vladimir Putin as a war criminal.

• The leader of Poland’s ruling party Jaroslaw Kaczynski said an international peacekeeping mission should be sent to operate in Ukraine.

The fast-moving developments on the diplomatic front and on the ground came as Moscow’s forces stepped up their bombardment of Kyiv, and an estimated…