INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The United States' top diplomat and defense chief were in Kyiv Sunday, Ukraine's presidency said, making the first high-level visit by U.S
State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin comes as the war enters its third month, with thousands dead and millions displaced,
and as Kyiv desperately sought relief for Ukrainians trapped in the battered city of Mariupol.Presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said
Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky met with the U.S
officials Sunday, as Mariupol's defenses were "already on the brink of collapse" and Ukraine was in dire need of offensive weapons."As long
channel, referring to the town where UN officials said they had documented the unlawful killings of around 50 civilians."Maybe they can
help," Arestovych added of the U.S
under wraps, Zelensky tweeted later Sunday that the "Ukraine-U.S
friendship and partnership are stronger than ever!"The United States has been a leading donor of finance and weaponry to Ukraine and a key
sponsor of sanctions targeting Russia, but had not sent any top officials to Kyiv, while several European leaders had traveled there to
underscore their support.'Fierce hatred'The highly sensitive trip by two of President Joe Biden's top cabinet members coincided with Easter
celebrations in the largely Orthodox country."Our souls are filled with fierce hatred for the invaders and all that they have done,"
Zelensky said in a statement marking the holiday
showed no sign of easing their attacks.Five civilians were killed and another five wounded in Donetsk on Sunday, the besieged eastern
region's Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said
and at least 18 wounded, according to Zelensky, who said five missiles hit the historic city."Among those killed was a three-month-old baby
"How did she threaten Russia? It seems that killing children is just a new national idea of the Russian Federation."Russia's defense
ministry said it had targeted a major depot stocking foreign weapons near Odessa, attacks that upended the relative calm the city has
weeks of unrelenting bombardment.Yet, with thousands of Ukrainian fighters and civilians in Mariupol facing increasingly dire conditions,
Kyiv invited Moscow to talks near the sprawling Azovstal steel plant where Ukrainian fighters are still holding out, Ukraine said Sunday."We
invited Russians to hold a special round of talks on the spot, right next to the walls of Azovstal," the last Ukrainian stronghold in the
strategic port, said Arestovych.There was no immediate response from Russia
Its president, Vladimir Putin, had ordered his forces not to assault the plant, but Ukrainians say the attacks continue unabated.'Pause to
save lives'On Sunday, the United Nations' Ukraine crisis coordinator Amin Awad called for an "immediate stop" to fighting in Mariupol to
allow trapped civilians to leave."The lives of tens of thousands, including women, children and older people, are at stake in Mariupol,"
Azovstal."The enemy continues air strikes, artillery from the sea..
followed an announcement earlier this week from a senior Russian military officer who said Moscow aimed to take full control over the
eastern Donbas region and southern Ukraine.Amid the calls to halt the fighting in Mariupol, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE) said it was "extremely concerned" after a number of its Ukrainian members were believed to have been arrested in pro-Russian
separatist territories in the country's east.More than 5 million Ukrainians have fled the country, and millions of others have been
take in a wall of flowers memorialising the dead."I never thought that it would happen in Ukraine in the 21st century," she said quietly
the rain at a frontline position in the eastern town of Lyman, soldiers traded the usual patriotic salutation of "Glory to Ukraine!" for a
cry of "Christ has risen!""Truly risen!" came the reply.Around 50 civilians gathered in the town's small Orthodox church
this war," the priest said in his sermon.Elsewhere on the frontline, in the eastern city of Severodonetsk, Ukrainian troops had hidden their
small stock of supplies, including Easter treats, under a bridge after Russian mortar rounds struck overnight.Next to the Kalashnikovs were
Coke bottles and cereal bars, as well as icing-covered Easter breads sprinkled with colorful sugar beads.While others have fled the battered
work," farmer Vassili Kushch, 63, said in the village of Mala Tokmachka in southern Ukraine, standing near rubble left by a bomb
"I don't have anywhere else to go."
