A deadly assault on Ukraine. View in browser | nytimes.com March 1, 2022 By Natasha Frost Writer, Briefings Good morning. We're covering a bloody attack on Ukraine's second-largest city and a major report on climate change. A damaged school in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Sergey Bobok/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Civilians killed in a deadly assault The first talks between Ukraine and Russia aimed at halting the Russian invasion were eclipsed yesterday by a deadly Russian rocket assault on Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, that killed at least nine civilians and injured dozens of others. Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, denounced it as a war crime. The bombardment of a residential area of Kharkiv, which may have included cluster munitions that most nations have agreed to ban, has raised new alarms about how far the Kremlin may go to subjugate its smaller neighbor. Follow the latest updates . Neither Russia nor Ukraine are members of the treaty that b...