Ukraine-war highlights: Amid war, Kyiv urges online Easter celebrations

Highlights: The Ukrainian forces have mounted stiff resistance and the West has imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia in an effort to force it to withdraw its forces.

Damaged and burned vehicles during heavy fighting in an area controlled by Russian-backed separatist forces in Mariupol. (AP file)

Highlights: The war between Russia and Ukraine entered day 59 on Saturday as Russian troops continued to make advancements in the east....Read More

Follow all the updates here:

• 23 Apr 2022, 10:58:34 PM IST

  Zelensky threatens to quit talks if Moscow holds 'pseudo-referendums' in occupied areas

  Ukrainian President said on Saturday that his government will quit talks with Russia if it destroys Ukraine's civilians in Mariupol and holds "pseudo-referendums" in Russian-occupied areas. 

• 23 Apr 2022, 10:02:07 PM IST

  Amid war, Kyiv urges online Easter celebrations

  Ukrainian authorities have urged those celebrating Orthodox Easter to follow religious services online and to respect curfews amid the intensifying Russian offensive. 

• 23 Apr 2022, 09:01:59 PM IST

  Mariupol evacuation 'thwarted' by Moscow, says city official

  An official in Mariupol city told news agency AFP on Saturday that evacuation was 'thwarted' by Russian forces. 

• 23 Apr 2022, 08:34:38 PM IST

  2 Russian generals killed, one injured in fighting near Kherson, claims Ukrainian defence ministry

  
  

  Ukraine's military intelligence has claimed that two Russian generals have been killed while one was injured near Kherson, The Kyiv Independent quoted the Ukraine Defense Ministry’s Intelligence Directorate.

• 23 Apr 2022, 08:13:01 PM IST

  5 killed, 18 wounded in Russian strikes on Odesa, claims Ukraine

  A Russian strike killed at least five people, including a baby, and wounded 18 others in Ukraine's Black Sea city of Odessa on Saturday, Kyiv said, warning the toll would likely rise, AFP reported. "Five Ukrainians killed and 18 wounded. And those are only the ones that we were able to find. It is likely that the death toll will be heavy," the head of Ukraine's presidential office Andriy Yermak said on Telegram. "A three-month-old baby was among those killed."

• 23 Apr 2022, 07:35:11 PM IST

  3 million people fled Ukraine for Poland, says UN body for refugees

  The UN high commission for refugees said that nearly three million people fled Ukraine for Poland, The Kyiv Independent reported.

  
  

• 23 Apr 2022, 07:11:36 PM IST

  Russian forces fired 6 cruise missiles in Odesa, claims Ukrainian official

  Ukrainian interior minister's adviser has claimed that Russian forces have fired at least six cruise missiles at the Black Sea port city of Odesa, AP reported. Anton Gerashchenko said in a Telegram post on Saturday that Ukrainian forces were able to shoot down several missiles, but at least one landed and exploded.

• 23 Apr 2022, 06:48:07 PM IST

  Absolutely sure that Ukraine will win this war, says PM Denys Shmyhal

  Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Saturday that he was absolutely sure that his country will win the war against Russia very soon. 

  "We are absolutely sure that Ukraine will win in this war and victory will be in (a) very short period," Denys Shmyhal told CNN as he was asked about British PM Boris Johnson's remark that there was a realistic possibility Moscow could still win.

• 23 Apr 2022, 06:27:54 PM IST

  2 civilians killed in Russian artillery strike in Luhansk, claims Ukrainian governor

  An artillery strike on the front line town of Zolote in Ukraine's eastern Luhansk region killed two civilians on Saturday and wounded two others, Governor Serhiy Haidai said in an online post, Reuters reported. 

• 23 Apr 2022, 05:47:49 PM IST

  90 children among 308 Mariupol citizens deported to Russia's Vladivostok, claims Ukraine

  Ukraine has claimed that Russia forcibly deported 308 Mariupol residents including 90 children to Vladivostok. The advisor to Mariupol governor claimed the children will be forced to learn Russian, the Kyiv Independent reported. Vladivostok is located over 9,000 kilometers east of Mariupol.

• 23 Apr 2022, 05:29:01 PM IST

  Germany must support Ukraine without endangering its own security, says minister

  Germany must do everything in its power to help Ukraine win the war against Russia but without endangering its own security and NATO's defence capability, Finance Minister Christian Lindner said on Saturday. "We must do everything in our power to help Ukraine win, but the limit of the ethical responsibility is endangering our own security and endangering the defence capability of NATO territory," Reuters quoted the minister

• 23 Apr 2022, 05:05:08 PM IST

  Russia lost 400 more soldiers in last 24 hours, claims Ukrainian forces

  Ukraine's armed forces claimed that Russia lost 400 more soldiers in the last 24 hours, taking the total casualties to 21,600. The Ukrainian forces claimed Moscow also lost a total of 854 tanks, 177 aircraft among so far.

• 23 Apr 2022, 04:54:19 PM IST

  Russian forces resumed airstrikes on Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, claims Ukraine

  Russian forces resumed airstrikes in their latest attempt to dislodge Ukrainian fighters holed up at Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant, Ukrainian presidential spokesman Oleksiy Arestovych said in video statement, Bloomberg reported

  Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said Russia had captured the city, and ordered the steelworks sealed off. Even so, the U.K. Defense Ministry says heavy fighting continues. Some 2,000 Ukrainians troops and many civilians in the Azovstal complex.

• 23 Apr 2022, 04:22:00 PM IST

  Watch: Kyiv orchestra hopes music will heal ‘troubled souls’

  Members of the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra have expressed hope that the music will boost the Ukrainian culture, this amid intense fight with the Russian forces which is set to enter the third month.

   

   

• 23 Apr 2022, 04:02:54 PM IST

  Russian forces shelled Ukrainian border guards in Chernihiv, reports Ukrainian media

  Ukraine claimed that the Russian forces shelled the Ukrainian border guards in Chernihiv. The Kyiv Independent reported that ten grenades fired from the Russian territory exploded not far from the Senkivka village, located several kilometers away from both the Russian and Belarusian borders.

• 23 Apr 2022, 03:31:33 PM IST

  Zelensky warns on Russian ambitions after general’s comments

  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy expressed outrage after a Russian general said the Kremlin aims to secure control of the entire south of Ukraine as well as the eastern Donbas, Bloomberg reported. Friday’s comments by Major General Rustam Minnekayev, acting commander of Russia’s Central Military District, were at odds with Moscow’s stated, more limited ambitions in Ukraine.

• 23 Apr 2022, 03:13:42 PM IST

  Ukraine says it will try to evacuate civilians from Mariupol by noon

  Ukraine will make a new attempt to evacuate civilians from Mariupol, the heavily destroyed city largely controlled by Russian forces, at noon on Saturday, AFP quoted Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk. "Today we will again try to evacuate women, children and the elderly," Vereshchuk said on Telegram, calling for people to gather on the motorway close to the Port City shopping centre in the city.

• 23 Apr 2022, 03:08:36 PM IST

  Watch: Russia's big admission: 1 dead, 27 missing in Moskva sinking

  Russia has accepted the losses in the Moskva ship sinking for the first time days after it sunk to the bottom of the black sea. Russia has claimed that one crew member died and 27 went missing in the tragedy. Russian defence ministry has also claimed that the remaining 396 members had been evacuated from the sinking ship. Watch this video

• 23 Apr 2022, 02:37:43 PM IST

  Ukraine liberated three villages in Kharkiv, says local governor

  The Ukrainian forces claimed to have liberated three settlements in Kharkiv, namely Bezruky, Slatine and Prudianka, the regional governor was quoted by news website The Kyiv Independent

• 23 Apr 2022, 02:31:42 PM IST

  Russia to deploy first military unit armed with nuclear-capable Sarmat missiles this autumn

  Russia plans to deploy the first military unit armed with nuclear-capable ballistic Sarmat missiles no later than this autumn,  Reuters quoted TASS news agency citing Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Russia's Roscosmos space agency. The unit will be based in Uzhur, in the Krasnoyarsk region, about 3,000 km (1,860 miles) east of Moscow, TASS quoted him as saying in an interview with the state Rossiya 24 TV channel.

• 23 Apr 2022, 02:24:19 PM IST

  Watch: Ukrainian soldiers rescue animals affected by war

  Ukraine's foreign ministry tweets a video of soldiers saving a pup from a trench.

  "Our heroes are risking their lives to save animals.We are grateful to all the shelters and volunteers working to save animals affected by the war in #Ukraine," the post read.

• 23 Apr 2022, 01:29:58 PM IST

  Ukraine says will try to evacuate Mariupol civilians from noon

  Ukraine will make a new attempt to evacuate civilians from Mariupol, the heavily destroyed city largely controlled by Russian forces, at noon on Saturday, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.

  "Today we will again try to evacuate women, children and the elderly," Vereshchuk said on Telegram, calling for people to gather on the motorway close to the Port City shopping centre in the city. "If everything happens as planned, we will start the evacuation around noon."

• 23 Apr 2022, 01:25:33 PM IST

  A timeline of war as Russia's invasion of Ukraine enters third month

  Russia heads into the third month of its invasion of Ukraine on Sunday with no end in sight to fighting that has killed thousands, uprooted millions and reduced cities to rubble.

  In the face of mounting sanctions and fierce Ukrainian resistance bolstered by Western arms, Russia has kept up its long-distance bombardment and opened up a new offensive in the east.
  
  Click here to see the Timeline

• 23 Apr 2022, 12:24:28 PM IST

  Russia's big admission: 1 dead, 27 missing in Moskva sinking

• 23 Apr 2022, 12:22:06 PM IST

  UK says Russian forces made no major gains in the last 24 hours

  Russian forces have made no major gains in the last 24 hours despite increased activity, as Ukrainian counterattacks continue to hinder their efforts, British military intelligence said on Saturday.

  Despite Russia's claimed conquest of the port city of Mariupol, heavy fighting continues to frustrate Moscow's attempts to capture the city, impeding their progress in the Donbas region, the Ministry of Defence tweeted in a regular bulletin.

  Russia's air and maritime forces have not established control in either domain owing to the effectiveness of Ukraine’s air and sea defences, it said.

• 23 Apr 2022, 12:21:07 PM IST

  Ukrainian counterattacks slowing Russian offensive in east

  Ukrainian forces over the past 24 hours repelled eight Russian attacks in the two regions, destroying nine tanks, 18 armored units and 13 vehicles, a tanker and three artillery systems, the General Staff said as per news agency AP.

  "Units of Russian occupiers are regrouping. Russian enemy continues to launch missile and bomb strikes on military and civilian infrastructure,” the General Staff said on its Facebook page.

• 23 Apr 2022, 12:20:06 PM IST

  Russian shelling kills 2 in Popasna

  Luhansk Governor Serhiy Haidai says that two people were killed by Russian shelling in the city of Popasna, news agency AP reported.

  Haidai said Saturday on the messaging app Telegram that residential buildings in the region were shelled 12 times the previous day, and Popasna “got the most” of it.

• 23 Apr 2022, 10:47:04 AM IST

  UN documents 'unlawful' killings in Ukraine as Russia vows bigger campaign

  Russia said Friday it intended a full-bore assault to carve out a sizeable slice of Ukraine, but Kyiv said the invaders faced ruin, as the UN documented the killing of dozens of civilians in one town.

• 23 Apr 2022, 09:52:11 AM IST

  Russia says it plans full control of Donbas and southern Ukraine

  Russia plans to take full control of Donbas and southern Ukraine during the second phase of what it calls its special military operation, the deputy commander of Russia's central military district said on Friday, Russian news agencies reported.

  The statement from Rustam Minnekayev, the deputy commander, is one of the most detailed about Moscow's ambitions in Ukraine and suggests Russia does not plan to wind down its offensive there anytime soon.

• 23 Apr 2022, 09:03:35 AM IST

  Kremlin critic jailed over denouncing Ukraine war

  Russian authorities have opened a criminal case against a prominent opposition activist and remanded him in pre-trial detention Friday for allegedly spreading “false information” about the country’s armed forces, news agency AP reported.

  A court in Moscow ordered Vladimir Kara-Murza Jr. held in detention until June 12. Lawyer Vadim Prokhorov told reporters that the false information case against Kara-Murza cited a March 15 speech to the Arizona House of Representatives, in which he denounced the war in Ukraine, as the basis for the latest charges. The activist rejects the accusations.

• 23 Apr 2022, 07:42:37 AM IST

  Russia says 1 dead, 27 missing in Moskva sinking

  Russia’s Defense Ministry said one sailor died and 27 people remain missing after last week’s sinking of the Moskva, the flagship of its Black Sea fleet. Russia says the ship sank in a storm while it was being towed back to port after fires broke out on board. Ukraine’s military says the ship was hit by Neptune missiles.

• 23 Apr 2022, 06:44:05 AM IST

  UN Chief to meet Putin on Tuesday, Zelensky on Thursday

  UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres will meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky in Ukraine next week after a stop in Moscow to confer with President Vladimir Putin about the war, the UN said Friday.

  Guterres will see Zelensky and Ukraine's foreign minister on Thursday, two days after visiting Moscow, the United Nations said in a statement.

  The Kremlin confirmed Friday that Putin would meet Guterres on Tuesday.

• 23 Apr 2022, 06:17:52 AM IST

  'And who will come next?' warns Zelensky after Russian eyes southern Ukraine

  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Russia's invasion of his country was just the beginning and that Moscow has designs on capturing other countries after a Russian general said it wants full control over southern Ukraine.

  "All the nations that, like us, believe in the victory of life over death must fight with us. They must help us, because we are the first in line. And who will come next?" Zelensky said in a video address late on Friday.

• 23 Apr 2022, 05:42:00 AM IST

  G20 cannot function with Russia at the table, Canada says

  The Group of 20 major economies cannot effectively function as long as Russia remains a member, Canada's finance minister said on Friday after a week of protests of Moscow's war in Ukraine at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in Washington.

  "Russia does not have a place at the table of countries who have come together to maintain global economic prosperity," Chrystia Freeland, Canadian minister of finance, told a news conference with Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko in Washington.

• 23 Apr 2022, 05:38:42 AM IST

  Russia says it plans full control of Donbas and southern Ukraine

  Russia plans to take full control of Donbas and southern Ukraine during the second phase of what it calls its special military operation, the deputy commander of Russia's central military district said on Friday, Reuters reported quoting Russian news agencies.

  The statement from Rustam Minnekayev, the deputy commander, is one of the most detailed about Moscow's ambitions in Ukraine and suggests Russia does not plan to wind down its offensive there anytime soon.