“Today our prayer is for all Ukrainians”

The most important events of the last 24 hours:

• Attack with Russian rockets on Easter night, two soldiers dead and six wounded
• Volodymyr Zelensky, Easter message: “Today our prayer is for all Ukrainians”
• In the middle of the war with Ukraine, Putin attended the Resurrection service in Moscow
• Commercial tensions and Ukraine, at the center of the discussions between Macron and Xi Jinping
• In the past two months, Russia has captured the largest portion of Ukrainian territory since July 2022
• Volodymyr Zelensky: “Ukraine shot down a Russian Su-25 bomber over the Donetsk region”
• Ukraine’s reaction after Volodymyr Zelensky was put on Russia’s wanted list: “A desperate attempt”
• Great Britain, accused by Russia of getting more and more directly involved in the war in Ukraine
• Most of the aid Ukraine is waiting for may not arrive for several months
• Ukraine expects foreign aid of 38 billion dollars after meeting the requirements of the IMF

Update 12:40 A Russian missile attack on the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine killed two people, while a drone attack on the northeastern city of Kharkiv injured at least six, local officials said on Sunday, cited by AFP.

The latest attacks took place while Orthodox Christians in Ukraine and Russia were celebrating the Resurrection.

“In Pokrovsk, rocket fire killed two people and damaged a house,” said Vadim Filashkin, the Ukrainian governor of the Donetsk region (east) in a message on Telegram.

The town of Pokrovsk is located about 60 km northwest of the city of Donetsk, the administrative center of the region of the same name occupied by Russia and which Moscow claims to have annexed.

The Ukrainian Air Force said that the Russians launched 24 Iranian Shahed drones over Ukrainian territory overnight from Saturday to Sunday and that 23 of them were shot down.

“A house and its outbuildings burned down as a result of these attacks. Six people were injured, including a girl born in 2015,” said the governor of Kharkiv, Oleg Sinegubov, on Telegram.

Update 11:40 The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, congratulated his fellow citizens on Easter. The video greeting of the Ukrainian leader was published on the website of the Kyiv Presidency.

Zelenski addressed the nation on Easter morning, symbolizing the liberation of the soul from evil and darkness. He spoke about Ukraine’s military resistance to the Russian aggressor, which has lasted for 802 days. The President emphasized that every icon, including those displayed in the Saint Sophia Cathedral, is a manifestation of the sacred and proof that heaven is with Ukraine.

“On the boards burned by fire and pain, with Ukrainian cities and villages tormented by suffering. Combining, at first glance, incompatible things: war and God. Overcoming evil with faith. Overcoming adversity with hope. Looking at these icons, you can understand the feelings of our entire people,” the President of Ukraine noted.

Zelensky emphasized that Ukrainians can give birth to light even in the most difficult and darkest times. He also emphasized the importance of religion and faith in the righteous struggle, as well as the hope for the return of peace and happiness to Ukrainian soil. He called for prayer for all Ukrainians who protect Ukraine and work for its prosperity.

“The Bible teaches us to love our neighbor. And today he showed us the true meaning of this word. Even hundreds of kilometers from each other we support and help each other. We protect ourselves. We pray for each other,” Zelenskiy said.

Update 10:30 Russian President Vladimir Putin and dozens of believers in Moscow attended the Resurrection service on Saturday evening, officiated by the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, a fervent supporter of the Russian leader and his war in Ukraine, reports Reuters.

Putin, in a dark suit, white shirt and dark red tie, was filmed in the main church in the Russian capital – the Cathedral of Christ the Savior – alongside the mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, each holding a lighted red candle, as seen in a video recording from the service.

The Russian leader made the sign of the cross several times during the service, which began late Saturday night and lasted until the early hours of Sunday. When Patriarch Kirill announced “Christ is risen!”, Putin joined the other believers who answered: “He is truly risen!”, notes the British press agency.

The head of the Russian church strongly supported the war in Ukraine, already in its third year. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and millions forced from their homes since Putin ordered the invasion of the neighboring country in February 2022.

During the Resurrection service, the Russian patriarch prayed for the protection of the “holy borders” of Russia, expressing his hope that God will stop the “internal fighting” between Russia and Ukraine, the state news agency TASS reported.

Orthodox Christians, including the Russian Orthodox Church, follow the Julian calendar and celebrate Easter this weekend, while most Western churches celebrated the high holiday on March 31, according to the Gregorian calendar.

Putin always attends services during major church holidays. At Christmas, he usually attends services in smaller churches outside Moscow.

On Easter, he traditionally goes to the Cathedral of Christ the Redeemer, which was rebuilt in the post-Soviet period and which has become a symbol of the state’s symbiotic relationship with the Orthodox Church.

The Russian church, led by Patriarch Kirill, has cracked down on internal dissent, with a priest expelled for refusing to pray that God would guide Russia to victory over Ukraine, and another priest suspended for officiating memorial at the grave of Aleksei Navalnyi, the opposition leader who died in a penitentiary colony in the Arctic region in February.

Update 09:30 Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected on Sunday for a rare visit to France where his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, is expected to try to push him to reduce trade imbalances and persuade him to use his influence with Russia on the issue of war. from Ukraine, according to Reuters.

The Chinese president is due to arrive around 16:00 (14:00 GMT) in Paris, having scheduled a meeting with Emmanuel Macron and Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the European Commission.

France has so far tried to push China to pressure Moscow to end its operations in Ukraine, with little progress so far, apart from Xi’s decision to call Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for the first time in shortly after Macron visited Beijing last year.

“China being one of Russia’s main partners, our objective is to use the leverage it has over Moscow to change Russia’s calculations and to contribute to the resolution of the conflict,” said the same advisor from the Elysee Palace.

Xi will leave France on Tuesday afternoon to continue his European tour in Serbia and Hungary, countries with good relations with Russia.

Update 08:00 The five-month wait before the US Congress approved $61 billion in military aid to Ukraine may have caused lasting damage that will be felt on the front lines months from now, CNN reports.

Russian forces have exploited the “artillery drought” that has hampered Ukrainian defenses since December to advance on the eastern front near Avdiivka, making their biggest advance since the start of the war.

Moscow’s advances have prompted warnings from senior Ukrainian military officials about the possible threat to Kiev’s supply lines and centers in the east, which are now dangerously close to coming within range of Russia’s superior firepower.

This grim news of progress comes ahead of an anticipated Russian offensive at the end of May that could jeopardize Ukraine’s presence in the Donetsk region and modest but hard-won gains towards the occupied port city of Mariupol. Russia invested huge resources against Ukraine’s flimsy defenses on the eastern front lines, forcing an advance on three key points: the vital military center of Pokrovsk, west of Avdiivka; the strategic heights at Ceasiv Yar, near Bahmut; and Kurahove, in the southeast.

On February 17, Ukraine announced it was pulling out of Avdiivka, a town that has been in the middle of fighting for the past decade and for which Russia appears to have sacrificed hundreds of soldiers. However, Moscow’s advance did not stop there. Over the next 10 weeks, according to a CNN map and an analysis by Ukrainian monitoring group DeepStateMap, Russian forces gradually captured village after village west of Avdiivka, taking advantage of Kiev’s lack of fortifications and exploiting Kiev’s reluctance to publicly admit the extent of its territorial losses in that area.

Only on Sunday, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, Oleksandr Sîrski, admitted the fall of a group of villages that his subordinates insisted for days were still disputed. The ensuing withdrawal showed Russian forces making, in just over two months, their most substantial and rapid advance since July 2022 near Severodonetsk, according to a CNN analysis.

Update 00:00 President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that Ukraine shot down a Russian Su-25 bomber over the Donetsk region on Saturday. His announcement was made in a video he posted on the X social network.

“Dear Ukrainians! Ukrainian forces shot down a Russian Su-25 bomber over the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine on Saturday,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his video message on Saturday evening.

At the same time, the Ukrainian president pointed out the fact that Russia’s attacks did not stop even a day before the Orthodox Easter. “The evil of Russia does not diminish its desire to create ruins even on Holy Saturday,” stated Volodymyr Zelensky.

War in Ukraine, May 4, 2024 | Six injured, following a Russian drone attack in the Ukrainian regions of Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk

War in Ukraine, May 3, 2024 | Ukrainians advised not to go to church on Easter, for fear of a Russian attack

War in Ukraine, May 2, 2024 | Huge fire in Odessa, after a Russian attack with ballistic missiles

War in Ukraine, May 1, 2024 | Russia claims it hit the Ukrainian Army’s Southern Group Command in the Odesa attack

War in Ukraine, April 30, 2024 | The US urges its allies to supply Ukraine with Patriot anti-aircraft systems