Latest developments:
Two killed in Zaporizhzhia after a Russian airstrike hit a residential building in the southeastern Ukrainian city.
In his Easter Sunday message, Pope Francis invoked prayers for both the Ukrainian and Russian people. He also praised nations that help refugees.
Ukrainian photographer turns battle-ravaged bodies into works of art.
Two of Ukraine’s provinces — Kharkiv in the northeast and Zaporizhzhia in the southeast — were hit by Russian missiles, rockets and artillery fire over the weekend, the Ukrainian military reported Sunday.
Oleksandr Prokudin, Kherson region governor, said Russian warplanes struck two communities late Sunday, but he said there were no immediate reports of casualties, according to The Associated Press.
Kharkiv Governor Oleh Syniehubov said that shelling in Kupiansk, a town formerly held by Russian forces before Ukraine took control last September, killed two men Sunday.
Later Sunday, Syniehubov said on Telegram the city remained under attack, and Russian forces were targeting residential areas with rocket launchers, the AP reported.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denounced the Russian airstrikes that coincided with the observance of Orthodox Palm Sunday. The majority of Ukraine's 41 million people are Orthodox Christians who celebrate Easter on April 16.
"This is how the terrorist state marks Palm Sunday," Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address. "This is how Russia places itself in even greater isolation from the world."
Zelenskyy also attended an iftar, a dinner held during the holy month of Ramadan for Muslims, with Ukrainian Muslim soldiers, leaders of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people and representatives of the Muslim clergy.
The event took place on the territory of the Crimean Tatar cultural center Birlik in Kyiv region, his official website said.
Those at the iftar observed a moment of silence in memory of the soldiers who gave their lives defending the Ukrainian state and citizens, Zelenskyy’s website said.
"May the holy Ramadan, despite the sadness and pain of war, be bright for you! May Iftar bring consolation to everyone in the world, in the Muslim community, no matter where you happen to be now. The big world Muslim community, every nation, every state can always rely on Ukraine because we have respect and solidarity," Zelenskyy said in his nightly address.
Ukraine's military also 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, Reuters reported.
Western analysts have said Russian forces recently made it into the center of Bakhmut. They said seizing Bakhmut after more than eight months would give the Kremlin a badly wanted victory, Reuters reported.
The Russian army is moving elite units to Bakhmut, Colonel Serhiy Cherevaty, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s Eastern Group of Forces, told the AP Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Russian defense ministry said Sunday it destroyed a depot containing 70,000 tons of fuel near the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, as well as Ukrainian military warehouses in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions, Reuters reported.
Zaporizhzhia is home to Europe's largest nuclear power plant and one of four Ukrainian provinces parts of which Russian President Vladimir Putin illegally annexed in September.
From a flower-adorned pulpit in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis prayed for both the Ukrainian and Russian people in his Easter Sunday message. Tens of thousands of faithful joined the 86-year-old pontiff to celebrate Christianity's most sacred day.
Francis delivered a blessing for troubled parts of the world. In his speech, he addressed the war in Ukraine, saying, “Help the beloved Ukrainian people on their journey towards peace and shed the light of Easter upon the people of Russia.''
Since the beginning of the war the pope has prayed for the “martyred Ukrainians,” but Ukrainian diplomats have criticized his soft stance toward the Russians and particularly Putin in his effort to not alienate Moscow. [VOA/NS]
