Austin, Blinken expected to make Easter visit to Ukraine: Live updates
Ukrainians marked Orthodox Easter in the capital, Kyiv, on Sunday with prayers for those fighting on the front lines in the Donbas region and others trapped in cities such as Mariupol.
But President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Ukrainians not to let anger at the war overwhelm them.
“All of us believe our sunrise will come soon,” he said.
The deputy commander of the nationalist Azov Regiment, which has been battling separatists in the Donbas since 2014, recorded a video address chastising the Russian military for failing to observe the holy day.
“The enemy continues to drop air bombs, ship artillery fires, guns are fired,” Captain Sviatoslav Palamar said.
The Eastern Orthodox church follows the Julian calendar, first proposed by Julius Caesar in 46 BC, rather than the Gregorian calendar adopted by Catholic Pope Gregory XIII in 1582. This means the holiday typically falls later than Easter Sunday in Western Christian tradition.
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Latest developments:
►Top officials from the Biden administration are set to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday in the highest-ranking visit to Ukraine by a U.S. delegation since Russia began its invasion.
►Speaking in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis lamented the “barbarity” of the war. “It is sad that these days, which are the holiest and most solemn for all Christians, we hear the deadly noise of weapons rather than the sound of bells announcing the Resurrection,” the pope said. “It is sad that arms are taking the place of words.”
►The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe said it is “extremely concerned” that several mission members are being held in eastern Ukraine. The Vienna-based agency said it is using “all available channels to facilitate their release” but did not specify the number of people being held or who was holding them.
►Russian missile and artillery troops hit 423 targets in Ukraine overnight as part of the special military operation, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Major-General Igor Konashenkov said Sunday. He said 26 Ukrainian command posts, 367 “places of the amassment of manpower and military equipment” and 25 gun lines were hit.
Austrian opposition to Ukraine membership in EU ‘shortsighted’
The Austrian foreign minister’s comments that Ukraine should not be offered membership in the European Union is drawing stiff criticism in the besieged nation. Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg said he supports closer ties between Europe and Ukraine short of full membership. One option would be allowing Ukraine to join the EU’s economic zone, he said.
“We are disappointed with the statements of the Austrian Federal Foreign Minister on Ukraine’s European future,” Ukraine Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said Sunday. “We consider them strategically short-sighted and not in the interests of a united Europe.”
Zelenskyy adviser calls Mariupol ‘almost wiped out’
Igor Zhovkva, top adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said Sunday that the southern city of Mariupol is “almost wiped out.” Zhovkva told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that the weapons delivered so far to Ukraine have been what the country needs to fight Russia, but it now also needs weapons to defend its skies. Noting NATO has not imposed a “no-fly” zone over the country, Zhovkva said, “we also need anti-missile systems and anti-aircraft systems because daily and nightly Ukraine cities are bombarded by the cruise missiles.”
Zhovka denied the Russian claim that it controls all of the southern city of Mariupol, where 100,000 civilians remain, though he said the Russians control part of it.
“Ukrainian armed forces are still in town.,” he said. “They are concentrated now mainly on the Azovstal steel plant. And they are concentrated there together with the civilians. And many of the Ukrainian soldiers are wounded.”
He criticized the U.N. secretary general’s request to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, saying he was not authorized to speak on behalf of the Ukrainian government
“This is not a good idea to travel to Moscow. We do not understand his intention to travel to Moscow and to talk to President Putin.”
Kharkiv feels wrath of Russian invasion
While the world mourns the battering taken by Mariuspol, 260 miles to the north the city of Kharkiv has quietly been overwhelmed by Russian artillery. The vast majority of Kharkiv’s 1.4 million residents have fled. Mayor Ihor Terekhov says Russia is “furiously bombing” his city as shells and rockets continue to smash Kharkiv’s historic center and residential areas in the most intense assaults outside Mariuspol. Mayor Ihor Terekhov says Russia is “furiously bombing” his city, that an estimated 2,000 high-rise buildings have been destroyed.
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