US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin have held talks with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, an adviser told local Ukrainian news agencies. It is expected that Zelenskyy will use the meeting to promote more US military aid.
Russia plans ‘staged referendum in southern city of Kherson to justify its occupation’, said the British Ministry of Defense in its latest intelligence report. “The city is key to Russia’s goal of building a land bridge to Crimea and dominating southern Ukraine,” the ministry said.
Igor Zhovkva, a senior diplomatic adviser to Zelenskyy, has criticized UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ upcoming meeting with Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who said Guterres “doesn’t really” have the authority to speak on behalf of Ukraine.
Zelenskyy congratulated Emmanuel Macron on winning the French presidential elections and called Macron “a true friend of Ukraine”.
Dozens of civilians who died during the Russian occupation of the Ukrainian city of Bucha were killed by tiny metal darts from shells of a type fired by Russian artillery, coroners said. Fléchettes are an anti-personnel weapon widely used during the First World War.
Latest UNHCR data shows nearly 5.2 million Ukrainians have fled the country. More than 1,151,000 Ukrainians have left in April so far, compared to 3.4 million in March. In addition, the United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that more than 7.7 million people have been displaced within Ukraine.
The OSCE, the world’s largest security body, said it was “extremely concerned” after it was believed several of its Ukrainian members had been arrested in pro-Russian separatist areas in the east of the country.
In his message for Easter Sunday Zelenskiy said the religious festival “gives us great hope and unshakable faith that the light will overcome the darknessgood will overcome evil, life will overcome death, and therefore Ukraine will surely win”.
Pope Francis used the Orthodox Easter weekend to call for a ceasefire in Ukraine “to relieve the suffering of weary people”.
Ukraine says hundreds of its forces and civilians are trapped at the Azovstal Steel Plant in the city of Mariupol, which Russia has been trying to conquer for two months. Although Moscow previously declared victory in Mariupol and said its forces did not need to take the factory, Ukrainian authorities say Russian forces have resumed airstrikes and are attempting to storm the factory.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Zelenskyy spoke on the phone about Mariupol. Turkey is ready to provide any possible help in the negotiations between Ukraine and Russia, the Turkish Council Presidency said on Sunday.
That The United Nations has called for an “immediate halt” to fighting in Mariupol so that civilians trapped in the city can be evacuated.