Participants in the festive torchlight procession at the ancient arena on Friday night took turns taking a simple, tall and thin cross as part of the commemoration of Jesus’ suffering and death from the crucifixion. Ukraine’s ambassador to the Vatican and the archbishop of Kiev earlier this week denounced the Vatican’s plan to bring a Ukrainian and a Russian woman with the cross during the procession. They opposed the projection of what they saw as the idea of reconciliation, while Ukraine is being destroyed by the war being unleashed by Russia. The Vatican has not responded to the protests. Pope Francis has denounced the February 24 invasion and attacks on Ukraine as “sacrilege”, but has refrained from naming Russia as an attacker. Other believers applauded the decision to pair the two women. They work together in a palliative care unit at a hospital in Rome and are friends.
KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR: – Police: More than 900 bodies of civilians were found in the Kiev region – “We pray for you”: Ukrainian Jews celebrate Easter, if they can – The port of Mariupol, Ukraine withstands all odds – War Crimes Watch: The woman who would make Putin pay – The pain of the Ukrainian mom watching the burial of the daughter on the phone – Go to for more coverage
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS: BELGRADE, Serbia – Hundreds of protesters rallied in support of Russia, holding pictures of Vladimir Putin and T-shirts symbolizing the Russian invasion of Ukraine. A rally in central Belgrade on Friday was held to protest Serbia’s vote last week at the United Nations in support of Russia’s expulsion from the UN Human Rights Council. Serbia remains the only country in Europe that has not imposed sanctions on Russia, but right-wing groups are angry that Belgrade voted against Moscow at the UN Local media reported that masked protesters lit flares and smoke bombs outside the offices of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic during the demonstration and placed a Russian flag on the presidency building. Several similar demonstrations have taken place in Serbia since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Many Serbs remain loyal to Russia, convinced that Moscow was provoked by the West to launch an invasion. Anti-Western sentiment in Serbia stems from the 1999 NATO airstrikes that forced Belgrade to relinquish control of the province of Kosovo. Belgrade enjoyed Russian support in trying to maintain a territorial claim to Western-backed independence in 2008.
The governor of the Kharkiv region says seven people, including a seven-month-old child, have been killed in bombings in a residential neighborhood in the city. Oleh Sinehubov told the Telegram on Friday that another 34 people had been injured. Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, has been hit hard by bombings and rocket attacks during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The location of the city about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Russia and 160 kilometers (100 miles) north of the separatist eastern regions of Ukraine gives it significant strategic importance.
A senior U.S. defense official says the United States believes that a Russian guided missile that sank in the North Black Sea on Thursday was hit by at least one Ukrainian anti-ship missile, according to the Kiev government. Pentagon officials had previously said they could not confirm the Ukrainian allegation, but also did not deny it. A senior US defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss an intelligence assessment, said Moskva had been hit by at least one, and possibly two, Neptune rockets on Wednesday, setting the ship on fire. The official did not give further details than that the US believes that the Russians suffered a number of casualties on board. – quoted by the author of the Associated Press, Robert Burns
LVIV, Ukraine – The bodies of more than 900 civilians were found in the Kiev region after the withdrawal of Russian forces, the regional police chief said in a statement on Friday. Andriy Nebytov, head of the Kiev regional police force, said the bodies had been abandoned on the streets or temporarily buried. He cited police figures showing that 95% of the victims had died from sniper fire and gunshot wounds. “So we understand that under the (Russian) occupation, people were just executed on the streets,” Nebitov said. “The number of dead civilians has exceeded 900 – and I emphasize, these are citizens, whose bodies we discovered and handed over for forensic examination.” He added that more bodies were found every day, under the rubble and in mass graves. “Most of the victims were found in Bucha, where there are more than 350 bodies,” he said. According to Nebytov, employees of utilities in Bucha were collecting and burying corpses in the suburbs of Kiev, while it remained under Russian control. Nebitov added that Russian troops “locate” people who expressed strong pro-Ukrainian views.
KYIV, Ukraine – Two civilians were killed by shrapnel wounds after a rocket fired near the southern Ukrainian city of Kakhovka, according to a Facebook post posted by Kakhovka municipal authorities the same day. “It was not a quiet morning in Kahovka. Five residents with injuries were admitted to Kakhovka Municipal Hospital. “Two dead, three injured (one of them is in critical condition in the intensive care unit, two have moderate injuries)”, wrote the Kakhovka Municipal Regional Community. The municipality added that all five were hit by shrapnel after leaving their homes to see the remains of a rocket being dropped over the nearby town of Tavriisk. It was not immediately clear which of the warring parties had fired the gun and which had shot it down. The post continued urging locals to stay inside and stay away from windows if they hear gunshots or explosions.
The website of France’s state broadcaster, RFI, appeared unavailable in Russia on Friday after the country’s media and internet watchdog added one of its pages with critical coverage of the Ukraine war to its list of excluded of its websites. The communications agency, Roskomnadzor, restricted access to news sites this week by a decision by Russia’s attorney general on Tuesday banning stores that publish “information that incites mass unrest, extremist activity or participation in mass (public) activities.” incidents of disorderly conduct and unreliable information of public importance. “ According to the Roskomnadzor registry, authorities blocked an RFI article referring to a report in the French magazine Le Figaro claiming that Russian soldiers raped women in Ukraine, but the station said its entire website was down. in Russia. Earlier on Friday, Roskomnadzor apparently cut off access to the Russian-language site of Russia’s leading independent English-language news agency, The Moscow Times, citing the same decision. On Wednesday, Russian state media also reported that the agency had ordered a Russian streaming platform to remove all podcasts published by the BBC, whose Russian-language website was shut down in March along with those of US and German news agencies.
MOSCOW – The wife of a Ukrainian politician detained by Kyiv for treason has accused Ukrainian security services of torturing her husband and plotting his escape from house arrest at a news conference in Moscow on Friday. Oksana Marchenko, the wife of Viktor Medvedchuk, a former leader of a pro-Russian opposition party and a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, described her husband as a “political prisoner” and said she did not know where he was. . Medvenchuk was arrested on Tuesday in a special operation carried out by the State Security Service of Ukraine or the SBU. The 67-year-old oligarch escaped from house arrest several days before the outbreak of hostilities on February 24 in Ukraine. He faces up to 15 years in prison and life in prison on charges of treason and aiding and abetting a Russian-backed carbon-mediated carbon-buying organization in eastern Ukraine. “I have no doubt that my husband was beaten within hours of his arrest,” she told a news conference. “I am calling for help to find out where he is. I ask for help to stop the physical and mental torture. “ He did not provide evidence to support his allegations, but referred to a televised statement issued by Ukrainian officials on Wednesday stating that Kyiv would try to prosecute Medvedchuk “as soon as possible, give him the appropriate sentence, receive information from him and then exchange him »with Ukrainian prisoners held by Moscow.
Russia’s leading independent English-language news agency says Russian authorities have blocked its Russian-language website for critical coverage of the war in Ukraine. The Moscow Times reported on Friday that its Russian-language website was unavailable to some users and cited a decision by the attorney general’s office to restrict access. According to the news agency, authorities have separately blocked a page on the site with a story about 11 police officers who refused to fight in Ukraine. On Thursday, a journalist who made the news first was jailed on charges of spreading false information about the Russian army. The Moscow Times reported that it had not received any official notification from the government. The Kremlin has tried to control the narrative of the war since its troops entered Ukraine. He called the attack a “special military operation” and …
