Russia-Ukraine war: US officials to meet Zelenskiy in Kyiv; Russia claims strikes in Kharkiv – live | Ukraine

BBC journalist Sophie Raworth spoke to US State Department Spokesperson, Ned Price, earlier today about the possibility of Russia winning the war.

“What we have seen from our Ukrainian partners is nothing short of victory on the battlefield,” Price said.

“Right now, they are winning the battle for Ukraine. And it’s really no surprise, because they are fighting with grit, with determination, with tenacity – but also with massive amounts of security assistance that United States and some 30 odd countries from around the world are also providing.”

He added, “This is going to be a victory for Ukraine. It is going to be a strategic defeat for Russia. However and whenever that happens, we are confident of that.”

When pressed by Raworth on whether the US is committed to sending heavy offensive weapons to push Russian soldiers off Ukraine territory, Price said: “We announced yesterday, another tranche of security assistance, in the form of $800 million in security assistance. We’re providing them just what they need for this new type of battle, the battle that’s going to emerge in the Donbas and in the south.

“We are confident that with our continued support, with the determination and tenacity that our Ukrainian partners have demonstrated, they will emerge victorious there as well.”

Russia says it struck several arms depots in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region overnight.

Reuters reports:

Russia’s defence ministry said on Sunday its high-precision missiles struck nine Ukrainian military targets overnight, including four arms depots in the Kharkiv region where artillery weapons were stored.”

These claims could not immediately be verified.

The senior Ukrainian negotiator and presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak has urged Moscow to agree to a “real Easter truce” on Sunday.

“Russia is constantly attacking Mariupol’s Azovstal. The place where our civilians and soldiers are is covered with heavy air bombs, artillery fire and intensive concentration of forces and equipment for the assault,” Podolyak said on Twitter.

He called on Russia to immediately open a humanitarian corridor for civilians and agree on a “special round of negotiations” to facilitate an exchange of military and civilians.

Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the latest developments in Ukraine with me, Sarah Haque.

It is 11am, and this morning the sun came out as Ukrainians marked Orthodox Easter in the capital, Kyiv, with prayers for those fighting on the front lines and others trapped in places like Mariupol.

AP reports that residents of villages battered by the war remain defiant in commemorating the holiday:

“We’ll celebrate Easter no matter what, no matter much horror,” said Kateryna Lazarenko, 68, in the northern village of Ivanivka outside Chernihiv, where ruined Russian tanks still littered the roads.

“How do I feel? Very nervous, everyone is nervous,” said another resident, Olena Koptyl, as she prepared her Easter bread. “The Easter holiday doesn’t bring any joy. I’m crying a lot. We cannot forget how we lived.” She and 12 others spent a month sheltering from Russian soldiers in the basement of her home before the soldiers withdrew.”

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy is expected to meet with US secretary of state Antony Blinken and defence secretary Lloyd Austin later today in the first high-level US trip to Kyiv since before the war began on 24 February.

Summary

Rebecca Ratcliffe

Ukrainians have marked Orthodox Easter this Sunday with prayers for those defending the country, and those facing desperate conditions in Mariupol.

At St Volodymyr’s Cathedral in Kyiv, Ukrainians brought baskets to be blessed by priests.

The Kyiv Independent has produced the following breakdown of Russia’s military losses as of 24 April, based on data from the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It is not possible to verify these figures.

Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, leaders across Europe and North America have sought to isolate Russia by imposing “unprecedented” sanctions.

How isolated is Russia? AFP has published the following analysis:

In the weeks that followed the invasion, Nato and EU airspace closed to Russian planes and the United States ordered bans on importing Russian oil and gas, as well as seafood, vodka and diamonds.

Some Russian banks were excluded from the Swift international payment system and hundreds of prominent figures were prohibited from touching down on European soil.

But outside the West, the response has been more cautious.

At the UN General Assembly on March 2, India and South Africa abstained during a vote demanding Russia’s withdrawal from Ukraine.

In Latin America, Brazil and Mexico refused to participate in the barrage of sanctions.

“There are a growing number of countries that are more willing to assert their independence in spite of the fact that they aspire to closer cooperation with the West and are even in need of Western support,” Chris Landsberg, a professor of international relations at the University of Johannesburg, was quoted as saying by the Washington Post.

“It’s one thing to condemn the invasion of Ukraine – it’s another to launch an economic war against Russia, and many countries in South America, Africa and Asia are not ready to cross the line,” the former Chilean ambassador to India and South Africa Jorge Heine added.

This appears to be the case for Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which have so far avoided taking a stand against Russia. It could also be said for India, which abstained during a vote condemning the Russian invasion at the UN Security Council in February.

“For India, the war has posed a stark and unwelcome choice between the West and Russia, a choice that it has done everything possible to avoid making,” explained Shivshankar Menon, former national security adviser to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

“The United States is an essential and indispensable partner in India’s modernisation, but Russia remains an important partner for geopolitical and military reasons,” he wrote in an article published at the beginning of April, entitled: “The Fantasy of the Free World: Are Democracies Really United Against Russia?”

For former French ambassador Michel Duclos, this tendency is nothing new.

“Already in 2015 with the Syrian crisis and the first Ukrainian crisis, we had neither India nor Brazil with us,” he said. “We have to ask ourselves: why is this the case, and what can we do to build stronger bridges with these countries? The question is more relevant than ever before”.

Zelenskiy likens Russian ‘filtration camps’ to Nazi concentration camps

The UK Ministry of Defence has released its latest analysis of the war in Ukraine. It says that while Russia has made some territorial gains, its operations are hindered by poor morale and limited time to reorganise troops.

Russia has deployed Iskander-M mobile battlefield missile launchers within 60 km (40 miles) of the Ukrainian border, General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said on Sunday.

“Then enemy has increased the number of troops in the Belgorod region by transferring and concentrating additional units,” the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in its daily morning update.

“According to available information, Iskander-M launchers have been deployed 60 km from the border with Ukraine,” it said.

Here is some more detail from a Reuters’ report on the development:

The Iskander, a mobile ballistic missile system codenamed SS-26 Stone by Nato, replaced the Soviet Scud missile. Its two guided missiles have a range of up to 500 km (300 miles) and can carry conventional or nuclear warheads.

Russia said on Friday it wanted to control all of southern Ukraine. Kyiv said this showed Moscow had wider goals than its declared aim of demilitarising and “denazifying” the country.

Belgorod is a city and the administrative centre of Russia’s Belgorod region, north of the border with Ukraine.

Reuters could not immediately to verify the reports. There was no immediate reaction from Moscow to the reports.

Russian forces are “likely attempting to starve out” those who remain in Azovstal stell plant

Summary