Day 417 of the Invasion of Ukraine: Second Easter for Kyiv in Conditions of War

Day 417 of the invasion of Ukraine. Summary of key events in the last 24 hours:

• Ukraine welcomes a second Easter in conditions of war
• Kremlin: "Wagner" advances in Bakhmut. We captured two more districts
• In his Easter greeting, Vladimir Putin highlighted the creative role of the Russian Orthodox Church
• "Wagner" returned 100 Ukrainian prisoners of war to their homeland
• Poland and Hungary prohibited the transit of Ukrainian grain and food
• The EC rejects bans on the import of Ukrainian grain from Hungary and Poland
• On Easter, Pope Francis called for peace in Ukraine

Ukraine welcomes a second Easter in conditions of war

Ukraine welcomes Easter for the second time in conditions of war. A particle of the Grace Fire was brought from Jerusalem there as well. It was transported by plane first to Romania from Israel and from there by land to Kyiv.

In Kyiv, at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, the Easter midnight service was led by the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Onuphrius. The other Ukrainian church, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, held an Easter service at the Saint Archangel Michael Monastery in downtown Kyiv.

Despite the holiday, Russian forces struck the Mykolaiv region last night. The area of Snegurovka, which was liberated by the Ukrainian defenders in November 2022, came under fire. On the eve of the Resurrection of Christ, Russia has also carried out an airstrike on the northern regions of Ukraine. Sumy and Chernihiv regions were attacked, Ukrainian agencies report.

And in his evening video address,...