KYIV, Ukraine – As Ukraine marked its third Easter at war, Russia on Sunday launched a drone barrage concentrated in eastern Ukraine, injuring more than a dozen people, and said its troops had taken control of a village they had targeted. .
The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia launched 24 Shahed drones overnight, of which 23 were shot down.
Six people, including a child, were injured in a drone strike in the eastern region of Kharkiv, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said. Ten more were injured in an air strike on Sunday afternoon in the regional capital of Kharkiv, also called Kharkiv, Syniehubov said, adding that the city was hit by an aerial bomb.
The fires broke out when debris from downed drones fell on buildings in the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region. No casualties were reported.
The Russian Defense Ministry announced on Sunday that its troops took control of the village of Ocheretyne, which has been targeted by Russian forces in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine. Drone footage obtained by the Associated Press showed the village devastated by fighting. Not a single person is seen in images taken on Friday night, and no building in Ocheretyne appears to have been left untouched by the fighting.
Authorities in Kiev have asked residents to follow Orthodox Easter services online due to security concerns. Serhiy Popko, head of Kiev city administration, warned that “even on such bright days of celebration, we can expect evil deeds from the aggressor.”
In his Easter speech, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Ukrainians to “join together in common prayer”.
In a video filmed in front of Kiev’s St. Sophia Cathedral, wearing a traditional Vyshyvanka embroidered shirt, Zelenskyy said that God “has a chevron with the Ukrainian flag on his shoulder.” With “such an ally,” Zelenskyy said, “life will definitely conquer death.”
Most Ukrainians identify as Orthodox Christians, although the church is divided. Many belong to the independent Orthodox Church of Ukraine. The rival Ukrainian Orthodox Church was loyal to the patriarch in Moscow until it split from Russia after the 2022 invasion and is viewed with suspicion by many Ukrainians.
In Moscow, worshipers, including President Vladimir Putin, packed the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, a Moscow landmark, on Saturday night for an evening Easter service led by Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church and an outspoken supporter of Kremlin.
Eastern Orthodox Christians generally celebrate Easter later than Catholic and Protestant churches because they use a different method of calculating the date of the holy day that marks Christ’s resurrection.
___
Morton reported from London.
___
Follow AP’s coverage of the war at
This story originally appeared on ABCNews.go.com read the full story
