A 50-year-old man and his 11-year-old daughter were killed after Russian forces struck a residential building in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia early on Sunday, authorities said. The US Department of Justice said Saturday that it has opened an investigation into a trove of leaked US documents, including secret assessments and intelligence reports, related to Ukraine. Follow our blog to see how the day's events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
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12:46am: Ukraine's Zelensky denounces Russian strikes on Orthodox Palm Sunday
President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced Russian air strikes coinciding with the observance of Orthodox Palm Sunday, including an attack that killed a father and daughter at home in the city of Zaporizhzhia.
Ukraine's military reported Russian attacks and shelling throughout the front, with the heaviest fighting still focused on two cities in eastern Donetsk region -- Bakhmut and Avdiivka.
Russian forces have been besieging Bakhmut for months in the longest battle in more than a year of war.
1:14pm: Russia says it has destroyed 70,000-tonne fuel depot near Zaporizhzhia
Russia has destroyed a depot containing 70,000 tonnes of fuel near the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, the Russian defence ministry said on Sunday.
The Kremlin also said that Russian forces had destroyed Ukraine army warehouses storing missiles, ammunition and other artillery weapons in the Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions.
This comes after August 2022’s warning by UN's nuclear watchdog calling for an immediate end to any military action near Zaporizhzhia's nuclear plant, warning of a "very real risk of a nuclear disaster" at Europe's largest nuclear facility.
12:21pm: Pope Francis appeals to Russians on Ukraine invasion at Easter Mass
Pope Francis appeared to ask Russians to seek the truth about their country's invasion of Ukraine in his Easter message to the world on Sunday.
Francis, 86, presided at a solemn Easter Mass in a sunny St. Peter's Square after unseasonal cold forced him to skip an outdoor service on Friday - a precaution following his hospitalisation for bronchitis at the end of March.
"Help the beloved Ukrainian people on their journey towards peace, and shed the light of Easter upon the people of Russia," he said.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year, Francis has at least twice a week referred to Ukraine and its people as being "martyred" and has used words such as "aggression" and "atrocities" to describe Russia's actions.
8:14am: Two killed in Russian strike on Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia
A 50-year-old man and his 11-year-old daughter were killed after Russian forces struck a residential building in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia early on Sunday, authorities said.
Ukraine's State Emergency service also reported that a 46-year-old woman, who it described as the wife and mother of the victims, was pulled from the wreckage.
City council secretary Anatoliy Kurtev said two missiles had destroyed one building and damaged dozens of others during the overnight strike.
The city has already seen more than it's fair share of tragedy, Zaporizhzhia's regional state administration building was occupied by 4,500 protesters with clashes between Ukrainian and pro-Russian activists in April 2014.
Zaporizhzhia is known for not only its nuclear plant, but steel, aluminium, aircraft engines, automobiles, transformers for substations, and other heavy industrial goods. Back in August 2022, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi joined a chorus of nuclear experts raising the alarm about fighting near the plant, he said he was "extremely concerned" by reports of shelling at Europe's largest nuclear power plant.
2:35am: US Justice Department opens inquiry into secret documents leak
The US Department of Justice on Saturday said it has opened an investigation into the leak of a trove of leaked US documents, many related to Ukraine.
The breach appears to include assessments and secret intelligence reports that touch not only on Ukraine and Russia but also highly sensitive analyses of US allies.
A steady drip of dozens of leaked documents and slides have made their way onto Twitter, Telegram, Discord and other social media and chat sites in recent days, and more continue to surface.
Former senior Pentagon official Mick Mulroy told The New York Times the leak was “a significant breach in security” that risks adversely affecting Ukraine's military planning.
Key developments from Saturday, April 8:
Thirty-one children have been brought back to Ukraine after being illegally taken to Russia from territories occupied by Moscow, a charity said. The children had been taken from the pro-Western country's northeastern region of Kharkiv and the southern region of Kherson, said Save Ukraine, which fights against what it says are illegal deportations of Ukrainian children.
Meanwhile in Moscow hundreds of supporters including Yevgeny Prigozhin, the chief of mercenary outfit Wagner, turned out for the funeral of a high-profile Russian military blogger killed in a bombing attack.
>> Read our live blog for all of yesterday’s developments as they unfolded
(FRANCE 24 with AP, AFP and Reuters)
