It is coming up to 4pm in Kyiv. Here is a summary of events so far.
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’sdefence 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.
President Zelenskiy has tweeted about his recent trip to Warsaw, thanking Poland for the “powerful defence package” and the “lives we save with our solidarity!”
My visit and negotiations in Warsaw were another step towards victory. Thank you for the agreed decisions, for the powerful defense package. Thank you for the lives we save with our solidarity! 🇺🇦🇵🇱 pic.twitter.com/TyaUcfpQF1
Zelenskiy speaks about defending Ukraine in Easter message
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, used his Easter message to talk about living freely.
He tweeted Easter wishes to those “at [the] frontline, in our cities & villages. All who celebrate Easter in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia, Australia. The world that wants to live freely. [The] world that values life, respect & equality of each person.”
He added: “We may have different traditions but one common for all – defense of native land.”
I congratulate Ukrainians, all Christians celebrating Easter today. At frontline, in our cities & villages. All who celebrate Easter in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia, Australia. The world that wants to live freely. World that values life, respect & equality of each person. pic.twitter.com/jMDvdCYms6
Today, 🇺🇦 is standing guard of our shared values. Two days ago I shared Iftar together with Muslims of Ukraine. I will soon congratulate the Jews of Ukraine on the end of Pesach. And in exactly one week, I will congratulate everyone who celebrates Easter this year on April 16.
We may have different traditions but one common for all – defense of native land. We celebrate Easter on different days but one will be shared by 🇺🇦 & the entire free world. The Day of our Victory. The victory of life. All the holiday of Lord's Resurrection means. HAPPY EASTER!
Ukrainians receive food aid at the end of a Sunday service at the Dobra Zvistka church in Kramatorsk, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine. Photograph: Oleg Petrasyuk/EPA
A priest proceeds with the blessing ceremony during the Orthodox Palm Sunday in Lviv, Ukraine . Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
A villager is seen near a burnt-out car during heavy fighting at the frontline of Bakhmut and Chasiv Yar. Photograph: Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters
It is coming up to 4pm in Kyiv. Here is a summary of events so far.
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’sdefence 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.
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.
'We must not lose heart' in the face of conflict, says archbishop of Canterbury in Easter sermon
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”.
Reflecting on the war in Ukraine and other conflicts around the world, the archbishop said “we must not lose heart” in the face of conflict, because “true peace is no aimless daydream, but a reality offered because Christ was raised from the dead. Life triumphs over death, light over darkness”.
The archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby delivers his sermon at Canterbury Cathedral. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA
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.
Votanovsky, a former Russian army officer, was arrested on the day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine after he went out and protested on that day in clothes with the words: “No to Putin!” and “No to war!” across them. He spent his 50th birthday in jail.
In May 2022, Votanovsky began to travel around Krasnodar Region, visiting every graveyard and recording those who had fallen.
He told the BBC that since December 2022 Russia’s battlefield losses “multiplied by several times”, citing the statistics he collected in Krasnodar.
Votanovsky says:
Deaths have simply skyrocketed. And recently, at the cemeteries, the graves have been all mobilised soldiers and Wagner guys. There have been very few [professional soldiers].
He says he has received death threats and was even offered “a spot at the cemetery”, but it was when a police officer told him to “get ready. It’s coming” that he made the decision to flee.
Votanovsky believes the police officer was referring to the state’s reaction to interviews he was giving and that they had enough to “open a serious criminal case” against him.
He has escaped to Armenia and plans to ask for political asylum in Germany.
Votanovsky adds:
For our state these are terrifying statistics and the Russian people just don’t know the true numbers. I wanted to show people the real scale of the disaster.
If people were to find out the true numbers of battlefield losses, they’d go crazy.
Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin at a cemetery for fallen Wagner fighters in the southern Russian Krasnodar region. Photograph: Telegram/@concordgroup_official/AFP/Getty Images
The view from the Ukrainian town of Ochakiv appears idyllic. Beyond the beach, a narrow strip of land stretches out across the sea. The peninsula in Mykolaiv province is known as the Kinburn spit. In happier times holidaymakers would take a boat from Ochakiv and camp among the dunes. The nature reserve is home to swans, pelicans and migrating birds.
Last June it got a new and unwelcome visitor: Russia. Soldiers captured the rustic territory, with its summer houses and mini-lakes, and turned it into a military base. Ever since the Russian army has bombarded Ochakiv, which is five miles (8km) away. Truck mounted launchers release Grad missiles, sending them over the Black Sea. Afterwards the crews speed off and take cover amid the mazy sands.
A Ukrainian soldier walks past the destruction caused by Russian shelling in a market in Ochakiv. Photograph: Ed Ram/The Guardian
On Friday, the Russians launched their biggest attack yet. At 5am they hit Ochakiv with 72 rockets. Another 50 fell in the district. The barrage lasted for over an hour. The town’s 7,000 residents woke in darkness to the sound of explosions. Two people were injured, one badly. Thermite projectiles fell from the sky and bathed the waterfront in a strange white light.
“They are swine, savages. They are killing peaceful people,” Serhii Kaminiev, a 52-year-old coffee shop owner, said. Kaminiev’s cafe is in Ochakiv’s central market. One of the Grads landed on the roof of a business selling clothes, setting it on fire. The pavilion was a twisted ruin. Charred T-shirts lay in a heap. Homeless dogs wandered among alleys of broken glass.
Aram Alaberdov, a security guard, walks through the destruction caused by Russian shelling of a market in Ochakiv. Photograph: Ed Ram/The Guardian
Aram Alaberdov, a security guard, said it was impossible to predict when the Russians might strike. “It’s good morning, good afternoon and good night,” he said wryly. He added: “In my view Vladimir Putin should be strongly punished. He’s worse than Hitler. Ukraine is like a shield protecting the whole of Europe. If we crack he will keep going.”
