Welcome and summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the latest developments of the war in Ukrainewhere the time is just after 7am.
Here are the latest developments:
- US diplomats will begin returning to Ukraine, the State Department has said, after secretary of state Antony Blinken and secretary of defense Lloyd Austin returned to Poland from a visit to meet president Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Ukraine. The US envoys also promised $322m in military financing for Ukraine, and agreed to the sale of $165m in non-US made ammunition compatible with Soviet-era weapons used by the Ukrainians.
- Russian officials have confirmed that oil tanks at a depot in the city of Bryansk, around kilometers from the border with Ukraine, have caught fire. It is not clear what caused the fires, videos of which posted on social media showed huge flames and plumes of smoke against the night sky.
- Russia is planning a “staged referendum in the southern city of Kherson aimed at justifying its occupation”, the UK’s Ministry of Defense has said in its latest intelligence report. “The city is key to Russia’s objective of establishing a land bridge to Crimea and dominating southern Ukraine,” the ministry said.
- Igor Zhovkva, a top diplomatic adviser to Zelenskiy, has criticized UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres’ upcoming meeting with Vladimir Putin and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, saying that Guterres does “not really” have the authority to speak on behalf of Ukraine.
- Zelenskiy has tweeted his congratulations to Emmanuel Macron for winning the French presidential electionHe called Macron “a true friend of Ukraine”.
- Dozens of civilians who died during the Russian occupation of the Ukrainian city of Bucha were killed by tiny metal arrows from shells of a type fired by Russian artilleryforensic doctors have said. Flechettes are an anti-personnel weapon widely used during the first world war.
- Latest UNHCR data reveals almost 5.2 million Ukrainians have fled the country. More than 1,151,000 Ukrainians have left during April so far, compared with 3.4 million in the month of March alone. Beyond that, the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates more than 7.7 million people have been displaced within Ukraine.
- The OSCE, the world’s largest security body, has said it is “extremely concerned” after several of its Ukrainian members were believed to have been arrested in pro-Russian separatist territories in the country’s east.
- In his Easter Sunday message, Zelenskiy said the religious festival “gives us great hope and unwavering faith that light will overcome darknessgood will overcome evil, life will overcome death, and therefore Ukraine will surely win”.
- Pope Francis has used the Orthodox Easter weekend to once again appeal for a truce in Ukraine “to ease the suffering of exhausted people”.
- Ukraine says hundreds of its forces and civilians are trapped inside the Azovstal steel plant in the city of Mariupol, which Russia has been trying to take for two months. Although Moscow had previously declared victory in Mariupol and said its forces did not need to take the factory, the Ukrainian authorities say Russian forces have resumed air strikes and are trying to storm the plant.
- Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdoğan and Zelenskiy have discussed Mariupol during a telephone call. Turkey is ready to give all possible assistance during negotiations between Ukraine and Russia, the Turkish presidency said on Sunday.
- The UN has called for an “immediate stop” to fighting in Mariupol so that civilians trapped in the city can be evacuated today.