Latest developments:

Two killed In Zaporizhzhia after a Russian airstrike hit a residential building in the southeastern Ukrainian city.
In his Easter Sunday message, Pope Francis invoked prayers for both the Ukrainian and Russian people. He also praised nations that help refugees.
Ukrainian photographer turns battle-ravaged bodies into works of art.

 

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Monday his country needs security guarantees from Russia, according to state broadcaster BelTA.

The comments came as Lukashenko hosted Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

According to BelTA, Lukashenko cited his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week, saying the two leaders discussed the need for Russia to protect Belarus “as its own territory” if there were “aggression” toward Belarus.

Putin drew criticism last month when he announced Russia would deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.

Russian forces also used Belarus as a staging area to launch the full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than one year ago, after the two allies insisted they were holding only military drills with no plan for an attack on Ukraine.

Two Ukraine provinces — Kharkiv in the northeast and Zaporizhzhia in the southeast — were hit by Russian missiles, rockets and artillery fire over the weekend, the Ukrainian military reported Sunday.

Oleksandr Prokudin, Kherson region governor, said Russian warplanes struck two communities late Sunday, but he said there were no immediate reports of casualties, according to The Associated Press.

Kharkiv Governor Oleh Syniehubov said the shelling in Kupiansk, a town formerly held by Russian forces before Ukraine took control last September, killed two men Sunday.

Later Sunday, Syniehubov said on Telegram the city remained under attack, and Russian forces were targeting residential areas with rocket launchers, the AP reported.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denounced the Russian airstrikes that coincided with the observance of Orthodox Palm Sunday. The majority of Ukraine’s 41 million people are Orthodox Christians who celebrate Easter on April 16.

“This is how the terrorist state marks Palm Sunday,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address. “This is how Russia places itself in even greater isolation from the world.”

Some material in this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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