Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine:
– Kyiv readies for battles in east –
Ukraine is preparing for “important battles” against Moscow’s forces in the east of the country, officials in Kyiv say, as thousands of civilians flee in fear of an imminent Russian offensive.
Evacuations resumed from Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine, where a missile strike killed 52 people at a railway station Friday.
– ‘Over 1,200 bodies found’ –
Ukraine’s prosecutor general Iryna Venediktova says 1,222 bodies have been found in the region around the capital Kyiv so far.
“We have actually now, only for this morning, 1,222 dead people only in Kyiv region,” Venediktova tells Britain’s Sky News in an interview.
– More than 4.5 million flee Ukraine war –
More than 4.5 million Ukrainian refugees have now fled their country since the Russian invasion on February 24, the United Nations refugee agency says.
Ninety percent of those who have fled Ukraine are women and children, as the Ukrainian authorities do not allow men of military age to leave.
– Pro-Russia protesters rally in Germany –
Pro-Russia protesters rally in Germany, with the country’s significant Russian-speaking population demanding an end to the discrimination it says it has suffered since war began in Ukraine.
Germany is home to 1.2 million people of Russian origin and 325,000 from Ukraine. Authorities fear the conflict could be imported into Germany and the protests used to promote Moscow’s war narrative.
Police have recorded 383 anti-Russian offences and 181 anti-Ukrainian offences since the Kremlin’s invasion started on February 24.
– Pope calls for Easter ceasefire –
Pope Francis calls for an Easter truce in Ukraine to pave the way for peace through “real negotiation”.
“Let the Easter truce begin. But not to provide more weapons and pick up the combat again — no! — a truce that will lead to peace, through real negotiation,” the pontiff tells a public mass at Saint Peter’s Square.
– Dnipro airport destroyed –
The airport in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro has been completely destroyed in fresh Russian shelling, a local official says.
“There has been another attack on Dnipro airport. There is nothing left of it. The airport itself and the infrastructure around it has been destroyed. Rockets keep flying and flying,” the head of the city’s military administration, Valentin Reznichenko, says on Telegram.
Authorities were seeking to clarify information about victims, he adds.
– Five killed in Russian shelling –
Russian shelling killed five civilians and wounded five others in two eastern Ukrainian cities Saturday, the Donetsk governor says.
Four of them died in the city of Vugledar, and one in the town of Novomikhaylovka, Pavlo Kyrylenko says in a Telegram post.
– Two bodies found in manhole –
At least two bodies have been discovered in a manhole at a petrol station west of Kyiv, an AFP reporter says.
The bodies appear to be clad in a mix of civilian and military clothing.
Ukraine says it has discovered a trail of civilian bodies in towns outside Kyiv from where the Russian army retreated, accusing Moscow of war crimes.
-‘Ukraine probes Russian war crimes’ –
Ukraine is examining the alleged culpability of 500 Russian leaders for thousands of war crimes, including President Vladimir Putin, a top official says.
– Biden, Modi to meet over Ukraine –
US President Joe Biden will meet virtually Monday with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, weeks after Biden said India has been “shaky” in its response to the invasion of Ukraine.
Biden will use the talks to continue “close consultations on the consequences of Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine and mitigating its destabilising impact on global food supply and commodity markets,” says his spokeswoman, Jen Psaki.
Meanwhile, Vienna says Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer will visit Putin in Moscow Monday, the first European leader to meet him since the invasion.
– EU to discuss new Russia sanctions –
EU foreign ministers are to discuss Monday a sixth round of sanctions on Moscow.
Although the sanctions that would hurt Russia the most — an EU boycott of its oil and gas exports — are not on the table formally, European Union diplomats do acknowledge there are discussions about them.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly called for such EU embargoes, but the bloc remains divided over a ban on Russian gas and oil imports.
– ‘Russians stole from Chernobyl’ –
Russian forces who occupied the Chernobyl nuclear plant stole radioactive substances from research laboratories that could potentially kill them, Ukraine’s State Agency for Managing the Exclusion Zone says.
Russian soldiers pillaged two laboratories in the area, the agency says on Facebook.
