(Reuters) – Russia demanded the surrender of Ukrainian soldiers in the southeastern port of Mariupol, which Moscow said its forces nearly completely controlled.
FIGHTING
* Russian armed forces destroyed an ammunition factory near Kyiv, a Russian Defence Ministry spokesman said.
* A missile attack damaged infrastructure in the northern city of Brovary, the mayor said.
* Russia said its troops had cleared most of Mariupol with only a small contingent of Ukrainian fighters left in the Azovstal steelworks.
* Five people were killed and 20 were injured in shelling of the city centre of Kharkiv, the regional governor said.
POPE’S APPEAL
* Pope Francis, marking an “Easter of war” urged leaders to hear the people’s plea for peace in Ukraine and implicitly criticised Russia for dragging the country into a “cruel and senseless” conflict.
DIPLOMACY, SANCTIONS
* The EU will impose sanctions on Russian banks, particularly Sberbank, and is seeking “clever mechanisms” to include oil, said European Commission chief von der Leyen.
* Ukrainian foreign minister Kuleba said there had not been any recent diplomatic communications between Russia and Ukraine at foreign minister level. The “dire” situation in Mariupol may be a “red line” in the path of negotiations, he said.
ECONOMY
* President Zelenskiy spoke with the head of the IMF about Ukraine’s financial stability and its post-war reconstruction. Prime Minister Shmyhal is expected to attend the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in Washington this week.
QUOTES
* “Our eyes, too, are incredulous on this Easter of war. We have seen all too much blood, all too much violence. Our hearts, too, have been filled with fear and anguish, as so many of our brothers and sisters have had to lock themselves away in order to be safe from bombing,” Pope Francis, in an address to about 50,000 people in St. Peter’s Square after a long Mass.
* “I just prayed today to stop crying,” said Evgeniya Lebedko of Bucha after a service in the northern Ukrainian town where many civilians were killed while it was occupied by Russian forces. “We have survived these horrors and we are constantly crying.”
(Compiled by William Mallard, Frances Kerry and Grant McCool)
