Latest News in the Russia-Ukraine War

 

Latest News in the Russia-Ukraine War

Ukraine: President Volodymyr Zelensky met with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Sunday, according to a Ukrainian official, in the highest-level U.S. visit yet to the war-torn country.

• During the meeting, which the U.S. hasn’t confirmed, the Ukrainian leader is expected to discuss military assistance as Russian forces build-up for an offensive in the east of the country.
• Ukraine’s southern operational command said its forces had recaptured eight settlements in the southern region of Kherson, most of which are occupied by Moscow.
• Mr. Zelensky said he would halt all negotiations with Russian officials if Moscow follows through on alleged plans to conduct a referendum next month on establishing a “Kherson People’s Republic” along the lines of the Donetsk and Luhansk statelets in the east.

Russia: Moscow will be the first stop this week for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, who will then visit Kyiv. Moscow rejected his appeal for a four-day truce during the Orthodox Holy Week, which characterized it as a ruse to allow Ukraine’s military to rest and regroup.

• Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces had destroyed a gunpowder-and-explosives factory in Pavlohrad, a city near the eastern Donbas area, and four weapons depots in the northern Kharkiv region.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin, in an Easter message posted to the Kremlin website on Sunday, thanked the Russian Orthodox Church for its assistance to those who need care and support “in our difficult time.”