Russia’s Belgorod region governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said two people were injured in a cross-border firefight by two helicopters, although state oil company Rosneft denied any injuries.
“Certainly, this is not something that can be seen as creating a comfortable environment for the talks to continue,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peshkov, five weeks after Moscow began sending more than 150,000 troops to the Ukrainian border.
The Russian allegation could not be immediately verified and Ukraine denied responsibility.
“For some reason they say we did it, but in reality it does not correspond to reality,” Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of the National Security Council of Ukraine, told Ukrainian television.
Russia has reported cross-border bombing by Ukraine in the past, including an incident last week that killed a military priest, but not an invasion of its airspace.  Rosneft Warehouse is about 35 kilometers (21 miles) from the border with Ukraine.
Russia, meanwhile, continued to withdraw some of its troops from areas around Kyiv three days after Moscow said it would reduce military activity near the Ukrainian capital and the northern city of Chernihiv to boost confidence at the table. of negotiations.
As Russian forces continued to bombard these two zones, Ukrainian troops took advantage of the retreat on the ground by launching counterattacks and retaking some towns and villages.
However, Ukraine and its allies have warned that the Kremlin is not de-escalating, but is resupplying its troops and moving them east of the country for an intensive offensive in the predominantly Russian-speaking Donbas region, which includes Mariupol.
The latest video talks followed a meeting in Turkey on Tuesday, where Ukraine reiterated its willingness to abandon its bid to join NATO and declare itself neutral – Moscow’s main demand.  In return, Ukraine offered to guarantee its security many other countries.
The head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, said on social media that Moscow’s positions on maintaining control of the Crimean peninsula – seized by Ukraine in 2014 – and extending its territory to eastern Ukraine Russian-backed separatists “are unchanged.”
The invasion has left thousands dead and has displaced more than 4 million refugees from Ukraine.
On the outskirts of Kiev, where Russian troops have withdrawn, damaged cars lined the streets of Irpin, a suburban area popular with young families that is now in ruins.  Emergency workers transported elderly people on stretchers over a damaged bridge to safety.
Three wooden crosses next to a residential building damaged by bombing marked the graves of mother and son and an unknown man.  A resident who gave her name only as Lila said she helped bury them in a hurry on March 5, shortly before Russian troops entered.
“They were hit by artillery and burned alive,” he said.
An Irpin resident, who gave his name only as Andriy, said the Russians packed up their weapons and left on Tuesday.  The next day, the city was bombed for almost an hour before Ukrainian troops took over.
“I do not think this is over,” Andri said.  “They will return.”
In the south, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it was unable to carry out an operation to evacuate civilians from Mariupol by bus.  He said a group was on its way, but had to go back.
City officials said the Russians were blocking access to Mariupol.
“We do not see any real desire on the part of the Russians and their satellites to give the people of Mariupol the opportunity to evacuate to Ukrainian-controlled territories,” Petri Andriuschenko, an adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, wrote in an exchange of messages.  .
He said Russian forces “categorically do not allow any humanitarian cargo, even in small quantities, to enter the city.”
The strategic port city in the Sea of ​​Azov experienced some of the worst of the war, with weeks of fierce fighting and shortages of water, food, fuel and medicine.  About 100,000 people are believed to have remained in the city, up from 430,000 before the war.
“We are running out of adjectives to describe the horror suffered by the people of Mariupol,” said Red Cross spokesman Juan Watson.
On Thursday, Russian forces blocked a 45-bus convoy trying to evacuate people from Mariupol and only about 600 people were able to leave in private cars, the Ukrainian government said.  Russian forces also seized 14 tonnes of food and medical supplies destined for Mariupol, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.
In other news Friday, the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said 86 Ukrainian soldiers had been released from the Zaporizhzhia region in exchange for a prisoner exchange with Russia.  The number of Russians released has not been revealed.
Last week, the Kremlin, in an apparent shift in its war goals, said its “main goal” was to gain full control of Donbass.
Donbass is the industrial region of eastern Ukraine, where Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces since 2014. The separatists have declared two regions independent democracies.
The capture of Mariupol, in particular, would be a great reward for the Russians, giving them an unbreakable bridge to the Crimea.
In the midst of Russia’s ground retreat and ongoing bombardment, the Ukrainian army said it had recaptured 29 settlements in the Kiev and Chernihiv regions.
Russian forces in the northeast also continued to bomb Kharkov and in the southeast they tried to occupy the cities of Popasna and Rubizne as well as Mariupol, the Ukrainian army said.
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Karmanau reported from Lviv, Ukraine.  Andrea Rosa in Irpin, Ukraine, and Associated Press reporters around the world contributed to this report.
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