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Russian forces kept up their bombardment of the port city of Mariupol on Thursday, while satellite photos showed that a massive convoy that had been mired outside the Ukrainian capital split up and fanned out into towns and forests near Kyiv, with artillery pieces moved into firing positions, Associated Press reported.

International condemnation escalated over an airstrike in Mariupol a day earlier that killed three people at a maternity hospital. Western and Ukrainian officials called the attack a war crime. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Russian refusal to permit evacuations from the port city amounted to “outright terror.”

Meanwhile, the highest-level talks held since the invasion began two weeks ago yielded no progress, the number of refugees fleeing the country topped 2.3 million, and Kyiv braced for an onslaught, its mayor boasting that the capital had become practically a fortress protected by armed civilians.

Satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies showed that 40-mile (64-kilometer) convoy of vehicles, tanks and artillery has broken up and been redeployed, the company said. Armored units were seen in towns near the Antonov Airport north of the city. Some of the vehicles have moved into forests, Maxar reported, with towed howitzers nearby in position to open fire,  according to the Associated Press.

The convoy had massed outside the city early last week, but its advance appeared to have stalled amid reports of food and fuel shortages. U.S. officials said Ukrainian troops also targeted the convoy with anti-tank missiles.

A U.S. defense official speaking on condition of anonymity said some vehicles were seen moving off the road into the tree line in recent days, but the official could not confirm whether the convoy had dispersed.

In Mariupol, a southern seaport of 430,000, the situation was increasingly dire as civilians trapped inside the city scrounged for food and fuel. More than 1,300 people have died in the 10-day siege of the frigid city, said Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.

Residents have no heat or phone service, and many have no electricity. Nighttime temperatures are regularly below freezing, and daytime ones normally hover just above it. Bodies are being buried in mass graves. The streets are littered with burned-out cars, broken glass and splintered trees, Associated Press reported.

“They have a clear order to hold Mariupol hostage, to mock it, to constantly bomb and shell it,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address to the nation. He said the Russians began a tank attack right where there was supposed to be a humanitarian corridor.

President Bidya Devi Bhandari stressed on expediting projects under the Belt and Road Initiative.

She said that the BRI projects have not gained momentum for many reasons even though Nepal and China signed the Memorandum of Understanding five years ago.

"We appreciate the vision of the Trans-Himalayan Multi-Dimensional Connectivity Network. We see them as opportunities for Nepal's infrastructure development and would like to advance this process," the President said, the Global Times reported.

On a different note, President Bhandari said that Nepal and China share a bond of friendship enriched by our common heritage of Buddhist civilization.

"We have deep cultural links across the Himalayas. It goes without saying that we have kept this amity for centuries because of Nepal-China relations are founded on time-tested mutual trust," she said.

Saying that China has been generously supporting Nepal in its development works, the President said that Nepal has always remained committed to the one-China principle and advocated in history for China's rightful place in the United Nations.

"Our mutual trust keeps our relations largely problem-free today. Our areas of mutual cooperation are ever expanding. We need to continue to work for taking this friendship to new heights. I see innumerable possibilities in Nepal-China relations," President Bhandari said, The Global Times reported. 

Visiting delegation of France-Nepal Parliamentary Friendship Group paid a courtesy call on President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Thursday.

During the meeting held at Sheetal Niwas, they discussed issues of mutual interest and common concerns.

High ranking officials of the Nepal government were also present in the meeting, Sagar Acharya, spokesperson at the President’s office said.

The three-member French delegation led by Group's chairperson Veronique Riotton arrived in Nepal last Tuesday on a five-day state visit.

The delegation arrived here at the invitation of Nepal-France Parliamentary Friendship Group chairperson Madhav Kumar Nepal.

An airstrike on a hospital in the port of Mariupol killed three people, including a child, the city council said Thursday, and Russian forces intensified their siege of Ukrainian cities, even as the top diplomats from both sides met for the first time since the war began, Associated Press reported.

The attack a day earlier in the besieged southern city wounded 17 people, including women waiting to give birth, doctors and children buried in the rubble. Bombs also fell on two hospitals in another city west of the capital, Kyiv.

The World Health Organization said it has confirmed 18 attacks on medical facilities since the Russian invasion began two weeks ago.

As the war entered its third week, Western officials said Russian forces have made little progress on the ground in recent days, but they have intensified the bombardment of Mariupol and other cities, trapping hundreds of thousands of people, with food and water running short. Temporary cease-fires to allow evacuations have often faltered, with Ukraine accusing Russia of continuing their bombardments. But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said 35,000 people managed to get out on Wednesday from several besieged towns, according to Associated Press.

The Mariupol city council posted a video Thursday showing buses driving down a highway, with a note saying that a convoy bringing food and medicine was on the way despite several days of thwarted efforts to reach the city.

Images from the city, where hundreds have died and some victims have been buried in a mass grave, have drawn condemnation from around the world. Britain called the attack on a children’s hospital a war crime. Two other hospitals were also hit in Zhytomyr, a city west of Kyiv, Mayor Serhii Sukhomlyn said on Facebook. He said there were no injuries.

“Everyone is working to get help to the people of Mariupol. And it will come,” said Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko, Associated Press reported.

On the western edge of Kyiv, artillery fire could be heard Thursday, Deputy Interior Minister Vadym Denysenko said. He told Ukrainian TV channel Rada that residents had a “rather difficult” night on the outskirts of the capital in which Russian forces started by targeting military sites but then hit residential areas.