A 50-year-old man and his 11-year-old daughter were killed after Russian forces struck a residential building in the south-eastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia early on Sunday, authorities said.
Pope Francis appeared to ask Russians to seek the truth about their country’s invasion of Ukraine in his Easter message to the world. He said: “Help the beloved Ukrainian people on their journey towards peace, and shed the light of Easter upon the people of Russia.”
Thirty-one children were reunited with their families in Ukraine after a long operation to return them from Russia or Russian-occupied Crimea, according to humanitarian organisation Save Ukraine. Kyiv estimates nearly 19,500 children have been taken by Russia since the start of the war, in what it condemns as illegal deportations.
The archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, used his Easter sermon to warn that “those who oppress and subjugate others will face divine justice”. He told the congregation at Canterbury Cathedral that “cruel and oppressive rulers” who may look as though they are only becoming stronger, will “vanish”. “We must not lose heart” in the face of conflict, he added.
Ukrainian forces are working to strengthen defensive lines and positions along the border with Belarus and Russia, the defence ministry has said, citing Lt Gen Serhiy Nayev, commander of the joint forces of Ukraine’s armed forces.
Ukraine’s ministry of defence provided the latest figures on the conflict. It said 177,680 Russian troops have been killed and 7,020 armoured combat vehicles have been destroyed.
The latest intelligence update from the UK’s Ministry of Defence says that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, chaired a full security council session on 5 April, the first since 2022. The interior minister, Vladimir Kolokoltsev, presented the main report, a choice likely to be an attempt by the Kremlin to portray the situation in those territories as being “normalised”. The MoD adds: “… in reality, much of the area remains “an active combat zone, subject to partisan attacks, and with extremely limited access to basic services for many citizens”.
The Russian-backed head of Crimea’s administration, Sergei Aksyonov, said a missile fired from Ukraine was shot down over the Black Sea town of Feodosia. An adviser to Aksyonov was cited as saying that debris had fallen in a Crimean town, but no damage or casualties have been reported.
A Ukrainian government minister is due to visit India on Monday and will seek humanitarian aid and equipment to repair energy infrastructure damaged during Russia’s invasion, the Hindu newspaper said on Saturday. Ukraine’s first deputy foreign minister, Emine Dzhaparova, will make the first visit to India by a Ukrainian government minister since Russia’s invasion.
Russia’s defence ministry claimed on Sunday it had destroyed a depot containing 70,000 tonnes of fuel near Zaporizhzhia as well as Ukrainian military warehouses in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions.
The US justice department has launched an investigation into the possible release of Pentagon documents. Documents posted on several social media sites including Twitter appear to detail US and Nato aid to Ukraine, but may have been altered or used as part of a misinformation campaign.
The French defence ministry has denied the presence of French soldiers in Ukraine, as allegedly revealed in documents attributed to the Pentagon and leaked to Russian networks mid-week.
The BBC reports that the Russian activist Vitaly Votanovsky, who revealed details of the burials of Wagner mercenaries killed in Ukraine, has left Russia. He fled the country on 4 April.
Several thousand people took part in traditional Easter peace marches in about 70 German towns and cities on Saturday, calling on the government to push for an end to the Ukraine war.
