KRAMATORSK, Ukraine — With fighting raging in the eastern and southern parts of the country, Ukrainians marked a somber Orthodox Easter on Sunday ahead of a planned visit by the most senior U.S. officials to arrive in the capital since the war erupted two months ago.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he expected to meet later Sunday with U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III to plead for swift supplies of additional weapons. The Biden administration has sent or committed $3.4 billion in armaments for Ukraine during the war, including two $800 million packages in the last 10 days that contained heavier materiel such as artillery, howitzers, tactical drones and combat helicopters.
Zelenskyy said the weaponry was increasingly vital as Russia appears to be expanding its war goal to seize the entire southern coast of Ukraine in addition to the eastern Donbas region.
