KIEV, Ukraine – Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said Russian attacks in the western Ukrainian city killed six people and wounded 11 others, including a child.
According to AP officials in Lviv, thick plumes of black smoke billowed out over the city as multiple explosions were believed to have been caused by impacted missiles.
Lviv regional governor Maksym Kozytskyy said there had been four Russian rocket attacks, three of which hit military infrastructure facilities and one hit a tire shop. He said emergency teams were putting out the fires caused by the strikes.
Oleksandr Kamyshin, head of Ukraine’s railway service, said the strikes took place near railway facilities. He said train services had resumed with some delays and he vowed to restore the damaged network.
Lviv and the rest of western Ukraine have been less affected by the fighting than other parts of the country and are considered a relatively safe haven.
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KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:
— “No Surrender”: Ukrainians continue to fight at Mariupol Steelworks
— Russia renews strikes in the Ukrainian capital and hits other cities
— Mother, grandmother cry over 15-year-old killed in Kharkiv shelling
Follow all AP reports on Russia’s war against Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine.
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OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:
MOSCOW – The Russian military says it has hit more than 20 Ukrainian military targets with rockets.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said Monday that precision-guided air-launched missiles destroyed 16 military installations, including five command centers, a fuel depot, three ammunition depots and concentrations of Ukrainian military vehicles and personnel in several areas of Ukraine’s regions Kharkiv, Zaporizhia and Dnipro.
Konashenkov also said the military fired land-based Iskander missiles to destroy four ammunition depots and three groups of Ukrainian troops near Popasna and Kramatorsk in the east and Yampil in central Ukraine.
He said the military used artillery to hit 315 Ukrainian targets and Russian warplanes carried out 108 strikes on Ukrainian troops and military equipment.
Konashenkov’s claims could not be independently verified.
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LONDON – Britain’s Defense Ministry says the ongoing siege of Mariupol is binding Russian forces and slowing their advance ahead of a planned major offensive in eastern Ukraine.
In a daily intelligence update, the British military says: “Concerted Ukrainian resistance has severely tested Russian forces, diverting men and materiel, thereby slowing Russia’s advances elsewhere.”
The port city on the Sea of Azov was devastated in weeks of Russian attacks. Britain says “large areas of infrastructure have been destroyed” and there are “significant” civilian casualties.
Britain accuses Russia of using similar all-out war tactics against civilian areas that it used in Chechnya and Syria, despite Russian claims early in its invasion that “Russia would not attack cities or threaten the Ukrainian population.”
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LVIV, Ukraine – Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian forces in southern Ukraine had carried out torture and kidnappings, and he urged the world on Sunday to respond.
“Torture chambers are being built there,” Zelenskyy said in an evening address to the nation. “They kidnap local government officials and anyone visible to the local communities.”
Zelenskyi said humanitarian aid was stolen, leading to famine.
In the occupied parts of the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions, he said, the Russians are creating separatist states and introducing the Russian currency, the ruble. Increased Russian shelling of Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, has killed 18 people and wounded 106 in the past four days alone, Zelenskyy said.
“This is nothing but premeditated terror. Mortars, artillery against ordinary neighborhoods, against ordinary civilians,” he said.
He said a planned Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine “will begin in the near future.”
Zelenskyj again called for increased sanctions against Russia, including the entire banking sector and the oil industry. “Everyone in Europe and America already sees that Russia is openly using energy to destabilize Western societies,” Zelenskyi said. “All of this requires greater speed from Western countries in preparing a new, powerful sanctions package.”
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WASHINGTON – Ukraine’s foreign minister describes the situation in Mariupol as grim and heartbreaking, saying Russia’s continued attacks there could present a “red line” ending all efforts to reach peace through negotiations.
Dmytro Kuleba told CBS’ Face the Nation that the remaining Ukrainian servicemen and civilians in the port city were effectively surrounded by Russian forces.
He says that the Ukrainians are “continuing their struggle” but that the city is effectively non-existent due to the massive destruction.
Kuleba says his country has been holding “expert-level” talks with Russia in recent weeks in hopes of reaching a political settlement for peace. But citing the importance of Mariupol, he echoed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy when he said the elimination of Ukrainian forces could be a “red line” halting peace efforts.
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WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden says he prays on Easter for those living in the “dark shadows” of war, persecution and poverty.
Biden released an Easter message Sunday saying he also prays for peace, liberty, and basic dignity and respect for all of God’s children.
Biden didn’t say what war he had in mind, but the president was heavily involved in ending the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The US President says he is grateful that the easing of the COVID-19 pandemic has allowed many people around the world to celebrate by attending church services and face-to-face family gatherings. He also acknowledges that the holiest day on the Christian calendar “stretches heavy hearts for those who have lost loved ones and for those of us who live in the dark shadows of war, persecution and poverty.”