Russia-Ukraine Crisis Highlights: Chernobyl situation far from normal, says UN nuclear watchdog

The UN nuclear watchdog said Ukraine said the staff at the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear plant has been rotated for the first time in three weeks after Russian troops left the area. - AP.

. The United States is committed to providing Ukraine with “the weapons it needs” to defend itself against Russia, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday as Ukraine seeks more military aid from the West.

Sullivan said the Biden administration will send more weapons to Ukraine to prevent Russia from seizing more territory and targeting civilians, attacks that Washington has labeled war crimes.

“We’re going to get Ukraine the weapons it needs to beat back the Russians to stop them from taking more cities and towns where they commit these crimes,” Sullivan said on ABC News’ “This Week”. - Reuters.

. The US is taking "aggressive action" to help the Ukrainians succeed on the battlefield and help them have the best possible position at the negotiating table, a top White House national security official said on Sunday.

Speaking to CNN, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said the US will play a key role in supporting Ukraine against Russia after Moscow attacked its neighbour.

“We are taking aggressive action in an effort to both help the Ukrainians succeed on the battlefield and help the Ukrainians have the best possible position at the negotiating table,” Sullivan said. - PTI.

. Ukraine's border guard agency says that about 2,200 Ukrainian men of fighting age have been detained so far while trying to leave the country in violation of martial law.

The agency said Sunday that some of them have used forged documents and others tried to bribe border guards to get out of the country.

It said some have been found dead while trying to cross the Carpathian mountains in adverse weather, without specifying the number.

Under martial law, Ukrainian men between 18 and 60 are barred from leaving the country so that they can be called up to fight. - AP.

. Ukraine's prosecutor general Iryna Venediktova on Sunday said 1,222 bodies have been found in the region around the capital Kyiv so far.

"We have actually now, only for this morning, 1,222 dead people only in Kyiv region," Venediktova said in an interview with Britain's Sky News. - AFP.

. Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatiana Moskalkova confirmed on Sunday that Russia and Ukraine had carried out a prisoner exchange on Saturday.

Moskalkova said that among those returned to Russia were four employees of state atomic energy corporation Rosatom, soldiers and some other civilians.

"Early this morning they landed on Russian soil," Moskalkova said in an online post. - Reuters.

. The airport in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro has been completely destroyed in fresh Russian shelling, a local official said Sunday.

"There has been another attack on Dnipro airport. There is nothing left of it. The airport itself and the infrastructure around it has been destroyed. Rockets keep flying and flying," the head of the city's military administration, Valentin Reznichenko, said on Telegram.

He added that authorities were seeking to clarify information about victims. - AFP.

. The Ukrainian military command said Sunday that the Russian troops have continued attempts to break Ukrainian defences near Izyum, southeast of Kharkiv. It reported that Russia was sending reinforcements to Izyum while continuing the shelling of Kharkiv.

The military added that the Russians also continued their attempts to take control of Mariupol, the Sea of Azov port that has been besieged by Russian forces for nearly 1 ½ months.

After Russia's attempt to capture Kyiv and other big cities in northeastern Ukraine quickly failed, Ukrainian and Western officials expect Moscow to launch a new offensive in eastern Ukraine, where Russia-backed separatists have fought Ukrainian forces for eight years. - AP.

. Russian forces who occupied the Chernobyl nuclear plant stole radioactive substances from research laboratories that could potentially kill them, Ukraine's State Agency for Managing the Exclusion Zone said on Sunday.

The agency said on Facebook that Russian soldiers pillaged two laboratories in the area.

It said the Russians entered a storage area of the Ecocentre research base and stole 133 highly radioactive substances.

"Even a small part of this activity is deadly if handled unprofessionally," the agency said. - AFP.

. The head of Russia's Orthodox Church called on people on Sunday to rally around the authorities as Moscow pursues its military intervention in Ukraine.

Patriarch Kirill has previously made statements defending Moscow's actions in Ukraine and views the war as a bulwark against a Western liberal culture that he considers decadent.

"Let the Lord help us unite during this difficult time for our Fatherland, including around the authorities," the Interfax news agency quoted Kirill, 75, as saying at a sermon in Moscow.

"May the authorities to be filled with responsibility for their people, humility and the readiness to serve them even if it costs them their life," added the patriarch, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin. - Reuters.

. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday he had held spoken on the phone with German chancellor Olaf Scholz on the possibility of additional sanctions on Russia, as well as fresh defence and financial support for his country.

He made the statement on Twitter.

Separately, Zelenskyy's office said in a statement the president had held a conference call with Ukrainian officials during which Kyiv's proposals for a sixth package of European Union sanctions had been developed. - Reuters.

. Russian bank VTB can no longer exercise any control over its European arm after sanctions, German regulator BaFin said on Sunday.

Management at the Frankfurt-based subsidiary is no longer allowed to take instructions from the parent bank, BaFin said, adding that the parent company cannot access the financial assets or economic resources of its European unit. - Reuters.

. Pope Francis on Sunday called for an Easter truce inUkraine, leading to negotiations and peace.

"Put the weapons down!" he said at the end of a Palm Sunday service for tens of thousands of people in St. Peter's Square.

"Let An Easter truce start. But not to rearm and resume combat but a truce to reach peace through real negotiations," he said. - Reuters.

. Two people were killed and several injured on Sunday in the Ukrainian town of Derhachy in the northeastern Kharkiv region, regional governor Oleh Synyehubov said in a Facebook post.

Russian forces had carried out 66 artillery attacks across several regions the governor said, adding:

"Two people were killed, there are casualties. As you can see, the Russian army continues to 'fight' with the civilian population, because it has no victories at the front," Synyehubov said. - Reuters.

. A top Ukrainian official said that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will only meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin after the country's victory in major battles, especially in the separatist eastern region of Donbas.

In a televised address, presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak said, "Ukraine is ready for major battles, Ukraine must win these battles, including the battle over Donbas. After that Ukraine will have a more substantial negotiating position to dictate certain terms.

"After that, the Presidents will meet. It may take two weeks, it may take three."

According to Podoliak, Russia is yet to fully understand the necessity "to talk to Ukraine on an equal footing at the very least, and at the most, to hear Ukraine", reports Ukrayinska Pravda. ( IANS )

. Russian attack helicopters have destroyed a convoy of Ukraine's armoured vehicles and anti-aircraft warfare, the news agency Interfax reported on Sunday, citing Russia's defence ministry.

"Attack helicopters KA-52 ... destroyed weapons and military equipment of the armed forces of Ukraine," the agency cited the ministry as saying in a statement.

Ukrainian military officials were not immediately available for comment. Reuters was not immediately able to verify the report.

. ( Reuters Photo)

. Operational Command South reported that as Russian forces attempt to reinforce their troop positions around Mykolaiv and Kherson oblasts, they are using missile strikes to demoralize the population.

(The Kyiv Independent)

. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said late Saturday that democratic countries are united in working to stop the Russian invasion as civilians continued to flee eastern parts of the country before an expected onslaught and firefighters searched for survivors in a northern town no longer occupied by Russian forces.

In his daily late-night video address to Ukrainians, Zelenskyy said that “Russian aggression was not intended to be limited to Ukraine alone" and the "entire European project is a target forRussia.”

. Russia lost five UAVs, four missiles, three airplanes and one helicopter on April 9, according to the Air Force Command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

(The Kyiv Independent)

. Ukraine has banned all imports fromRussia, one of its key trading partners before the war with annual imports valued at about $6 billion, and called on other countries to follow and impose harsher economic sanctions on Moscow.

"Today we officially announced a complete termination of trade in goods with the aggressor state," Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko wrote on her Facebook page on Saturday.

"From now on, no Russian Federation's products will be able to be imported into the territory of our state."

. NATO is working on plans for a permanent military presence on its border in an effort to battle future Russian aggression, The Telegraph reported.

NATO was "in the midst of a very fundamental transformation" that will reflect "the long-term consequences" of Russian President Vladimir Putin's actions, Stoltenberg said in an interview with the newspaper.

. The discovery of civilian bodies in Ukrainian towns has "permanently polluted" Russian President Vladimir Putin's reputation, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said during a visit to Kyiv Saturday.

Russia-Ukraine Crisis Highlights: Chernobyl situation far from normal, says UN nuclear watchdog

Chernobyl situation far from normal, says UN nuclear watchdog

US will supply Ukraine with 'the weapons it needs' against Russia

US taking 'aggressive action' to help Ukrainians succeed on the battlefield: NSA Sullivan

2,200 men detained trying to leave Ukraine

Over 1,200 bodies found in Kyiv region, says prosecutor

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