Five wounded after rocket strikes hit Lviv; Biden calls Putin a butcher

Washington, Mar 26: Russia continues to pound cities throughout Ukraine - explosions rang out Saturday near the western city of Lviv, a destination for refugees that has been largely spared from major attacks.

And Chernihiv isn't quite as synonymous with atrocious human suffering as the pulverized southern city of Mariupol. But similarly blockaded and pounded from afar by Russian troops, Chernihiv's remaining residents are terrified that each blast, bomb and body that lies uncollected on the streets ensnares them in the same macabre trap of unescapable killings and destruction.

With the invasion now in its second month, Russian forces have seemingly stalled on many fronts and are even losing previously taken ground to Ukrainian counter-attacks, including around Kyiv. The Russians have bombed the capital from the air but not taken or surrounded the city.

Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden, during his scheduled visit to Poland, met the Ukrainian refugees on Saturday.

"Each one of those children said, 'Pray for my dad, my grandfather, my brother who is back there fighting.' I remember what it's like when you've someone in a war zone, every morning you get up & wonder...They're an amazing group of people," said Biden.

He is a butcher, Biden said on Russian President Vladimir Putin, after meeting Ukrainian refugees in Warsaw, Poland.

More than 3.5 million Ukrainians have fled the country since the Feb 24 invasion, including about 2.2 million to Poland, according to the United Nations.

Within a few days, the number of refugees displaced from Ukraine since last month will exceed the number of Syrians routed from their homes over years of conflict after a 2011 uprising turned into a full-scale war, said Samantha Power, the US Agency for International Development administrator.