THE UK is set to provide Ukraine with more military equipment, the Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a phone conversation with President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Boris Johnson told Mr Zelensky more armoured vehicles, drones and anti-tank weapons would be sent to Ukraine, a Downing Street spokesman said.
The No 10 spokesman said this was a demonstration of "our support and solidarity with the Ukrainian people".
Meanwhile, President Zelensky has again called for a meeting with Russia's President, Vladimir Putin, in an effort 'to end the war'.
"I think that whoever started this war will be able to end it," he told a news conference at a metro station in the heart of the Ukrainian capital.
He was "not afraid to meet" Putin if it would lead to a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, he added.
"From the beginning, I have insisted on talks with the Russian president," said Zelensky.
"It's not that I want (to meet him), it's that I have to meet him so as to settle this conflict by diplomatic means. We have confidence in our partners, but we have no confidence in Russia," he added.
Follow our Russia-Ukraine live blog below for up-to-the-minute updates…
- Milica Cosic
Putin accuses ‘elite British SAS troops of posing as MEDICS
VLADIMIR Putin has accused elite British SAS troops of potentially posing as MEDICS to carry out "sabotage and guerrilla warfare" in Ukraine.
Russia's top state investigative body has said it is looking into reports claiming Brit special forces have been deployed to western Ukraine.
In a statement, Moscow's Investigative Committee (IC) said it would follow up the report that they had been sent in "to assist the Ukrainian special services in organising sabotage on the territory of Ukraine".
It claimed that "at least two groups of specialists in sabotage and guerrilla warfare from the British Special Air Service (SAS) have been sent to the Lviv region".
The RIA Novosti news agency claims the SAS often work in war zones under cover as medical workers.
An IC source said: "With a high degree of probability, these specialists arrived in order to improve the skills and efficiency of the Ukrainian special services in coordinating the activities of sabotage groups in the territories of Ukraine controlled by Russian troops."
Putin's personal CIA said it will look into "the facts of the activities of British SAS saboteurs in Ukrainian regions", according to the state-controlled outlet.
A spokesperson for the British Ministry of Defence said: "We do not comment on Special Forces."
Destruction in the besieged city of Mariupol as Putin's war rages onCredit: Reuters - Milica Cosic
Trump on how he’d deal with Putin in Piers Morgan interview
DONALD Trump has revealed how he would deal with Vladimir Putin and the word he'd NEVER let the Russian leader use if he were still in charge.
The former US President told Piers Morgan in the exclusive TalkTV interview that he'd approach Putin very differently amid his brutal attack on Ukraine.
Trump said he believes Putin has been using nuclear threats during the war in Ukraine to frighten other nations – making the Russian leader think "no one will attack him."
Read the article in full here.
Donald Trump revealed how he would handle Putin if he were still PresidentCredit: BackGrid - Milica Cosic
Russian embassy dismisses claims that Iran supplied Russia with weapons
The Russian embassy has dismissed reports of alleged deliveries of Iranian weapons to Russia, according to state news agency TASS.
“The rumours that have appeared in some media about Iranian weapons supplies to Russia are fake news and have nothing to do with the reality,” the embassy said on its Twitter page.
- Milica Cosic
Russian village 'shelled by Ukraine'
According to Russia's state news agency TASS, it has has quoted a local official as saying that Ukraine has shelled a village in the Russian region of Belgorod.
Vladimir Perstev has said there were no casualties or damage after one projectile landed in a field.
- Milica Cosic
Zelensky: Our souls are filled with fierce hatred for the invaders
The United States' top diplomat and defence chief today set to make their first war-time visits to Kyiv since Russia invaded Ukraine two months ago, with fierce fighting casting a long shadow over Orthodox Easter.
The trip by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin cames as the war entered its third month.
Blinken and Lloyd's arrival in Ukraine 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.
"Don't let rage destroy us from within," Zelensky said in a statement to mark the holiday.
- Milica Cosic
Pope Francis backs calls for an Easter truce
As Christians in Ukraine marked Orthodox Easter today, Pope Francis has called on the attacks to stop.
Pope Francis called for an Easter truce: "Stop the attacks in order to help the exhausted population. Stop," he said.
- Milica Cosic
'Putin has lost interest in talks to end the war'
According to a report in the Financial Times has stated that Vladimir Putin is no longer interested in diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict.
Instead, he wants to seize as much Ukrainian territory as possible.
One person briefed on the talks said: "Putin sincerely believes in the nonsense he hears on [Russian] television and he wants to win big."
His approach hardened after the sinking of Russian warship Moskva, which Ukraine has claimed responsibility for.
A source said: "Putin was against signing anything… after the Moskva he doesn't look like a winner, because it was humiliating."
- Milica Cosic
Putin's Satan 2 nuclear missile can ‘break through any defences’
TYRANT Putin has boasted that his apocalyptic 'Satan 2' nuke missile can "break through any defences" as he revelled in the prospect of global destruction.
In a mortifying threat, Mad Vlad, 69, said the world-ending RS-28 Sarmat missile will "force those who try to threaten Russia to think twice".
Putin hailed the development of the new missile – successfully test-fired earlier this week – as "a big, significant event" for Russia's defence industry.
Speaking yesterday, the dictator boasted: "The missile can break through all modern anti-missile defences.
"There is nothing like this anywhere in the world, and won't be for a long time."
The deadly projectile can fly over 11,000 miles, carry 15 warheads and has the potential to destroy an area the size of the United Kingdom in a single strike.
- Milica Cosic
Zelensky leader pushes for more arms
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pressed the West for more powerful weapons as he prepared to meet with top U.S. officials in the war-torn country's capital today.
Zelensky said he was looking for the Americans to produce results, both in arms and security guarantees.
"You cant come to us empty-handed today, and we are expecting not just presents or some kind of cakes, we are expecting specific things and specific weapons,'' he said.
- Milica Cosic
Ukraine blames Russia after Mariupol humanitarian corridor fails today
No humanitarian routes were established out of the southeastern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol today, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.
She blamed Russian forces for not holding their fire.
Vereshchuk said that the Ukrainian side would try again on Monday to establish safe passage out of Mariupol, calling for U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres to demand a ceasefire and open up humanitarian corridors from Mariupol.
"This is what Guterres should talk about in Moscow, if he is preparing to talk about peace," Vereshchuk said.
- Milica Cosic
Zelensky in talks for Mariupol evacuation with Turkish president
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky took to Twitter to say that that he had "an important phone conversation" with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
"On the eve of his talks with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, I stressed the need for immediate evacuation of civilians from Mariupol, including Azovstal, and immediate exchange of blocked troops."
- Milica Cosic
Civilians killed in shelling on Luhansk
The governor of the eastern Luhansk region has just reported that a unspecified number of civilians have died in shelling today.
In a video address meant to celebrate Orthodox Easter Sunday, Serhiy Gaidai said: "Today, once again, civilians have died. Our compatriots.
"The [Russians] do not hold anything sacred."
- Milica Cosic
Zelensky calls on meeting with Putin
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has again called for a meeting with Russia's President, Vladimir Putin, in an effort 'to end the war'.
"I think that whoever started this war will be able to end it," he told a news conference at a metro station in the heart of the Ukrainian capital.
He was "not afraid to meet" Putin if it would lead to a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, he added.
"From the beginning, I have insisted on talks with the Russian president," said Zelensky.
"It's not that I want (to meet him), it's that I have to meet him so as to settle this conflict by diplomatic means. We have confidence in our partners, but we have no confidence in Russia," he added.
- Milica Cosic
UN calls for ‘immediate stop’ to fighting in Mariupol
The UN’s Ukraine crisis coordinator, Amin Awad, has called for an “immediate stop” to fighting in Mariupol. This is to allow the evacuation of trapped civilians in the battered city from today.
“The lives of tens of thousands, including women, children and older people, are at stake in Mariupol,” Mr Awad said in a statement.
“We need a pause in fighting right now to save lives.
“The longer we wait the more lives will be at risk. They must be allowed to safely evacuate now, today. Tomorrow could be too late.”
- Milica Cosic
Putin fuels Parkinson’s rumours during Easter cathedral service
FRAIL-looking Vladimir Putin stoked rumours of failing health last night as he was seen biting his lips, fidgeting distractedly and appearing unsteady at a church service.
The tyrant – dogged by claims he has Parkinson's or terminal cancer – gurned while clutching a candle near the altar at a midnight mass for Orthodox Easter.
Brief TV footage showed little obvious sign of the telltale tremors often associated with Parkinson's.
But viewers saw the ageing autocrat appearing to shift uncomfortably, sticking out his tongue and chewing his lips.
He also looked up to the ceiling and down at the floor during a mass led by crony Patriarch Kirill, who has supported his invasion of Ukraine.
At one point the President was seen crossing himself slowly, appearing to take great care to control the movement.
It came days after dishevelled Putin, 69, was seen gripping a table and tapping his foot in video that Kremlin watchers claimed showed a drastic decline in his physical state.
- Milica Cosic
Russia condemned for continuing shelling during Orthodox Easter
The Ukrainian parliament's human rights ombudsman has said Russian forces continued deadly attacks even on the eve of Orthodox Easter.
"On the eve of one of the biggest Orthodox holidays, the Russian army continued to actively shell peaceful cities in Ukraine and kill civilians," Liudmyla Denisova said.
- Milica Cosic
Turkey ready to assist in negotiations with Ukraine
President Erdogan told President Zelensky during a telephone call that Turkey is ready to give all possible assistance during the negotiation process between Ukraine and Russia,.
Mr Erdogan said the evacuation of the wounded and civilians in Mariupol must be ensured.
He added that Turkey viewed the guarantor issue positively in principle.
- Milica Cosic
Afternoon, Milica Cosic now taking over the blog. I'll be with you until 10pm tonight.
- Louis Allwood
Zelensky issues another warning
ZELENSKY has issued yet another warning to Vladimir Putin in his lengthy press conference in Kyiv’s metro.
He warned that if Russian forces kill any of the last soldiers defending Mariupol’s steel plant, Ukraine will abandon peace talks with Moscow.
The Ukrainian President also said that Ukraine will pull out of peace talks if Russia holds an independence referendum in the occupied city of Kherson.
Mariupol remains a strategically important city and has been battered by Russia for weeks.
Officials say planned evacuations have been halted by intense shelling in the city.
- Louis Allwood
UN and Red Cross call for immediate end to fighting
The United Nations and Red Cross have both called for an immediate end to fighting in Mariupol so that civilians have a chance to escape.
The UN's Ukraine crisis coordinator Amin Awad said: "The longer we wait, the more lives will be at risk", according to a statement quoted by the AFP news agency.
- Louis Allwood
‘Unsteady and distracted’ – Putin fuels Parkinson’s rumours
FRAIL-looking Vladimir Putin stoked rumours of failing health last night as he was seen biting his lips, fidgeting distractedly and appearing unsteady at a church service.
The tyrant – dogged by claims he has Parkinson's or terminal cancer – gurned while clutching a candle near the altar at a midnight mass for Orthodox Easter.
It came days after dishevelled Putin, 69, was seen gripping a table and tapping his foot in video that Kremlin watchers claimed showed a drastic decline in his physical state.
Last night he appeared less bloated than in recent weeks as he stood unaided at Moscow's Christ the Saviour Cathedral alongside the city's mayor Sergei Sobyanin.
Brief TV footage showed little obvious sign of the telltale tremors often associated with Parkinson's.
But viewers saw the ageing autocrat appearing to shift uncomfortably, sticking out his tongue and chewing his lips.
- Louis Allwood
Nearly three million have fled
The Polish Border Guard have said that more than 2.9 million people have fled Ukraine to Poland since the war began.
The number of people crossing the border into Poland has fallen significantly in recent weeks.
- Louis Allwood
Zelensky releases new Easter video
President Zelensky has released a new video marking Orthodox Easter, a major festival in Ukraine.
In the video he said: "Last year we celebrated Easter at home because of the pandemic. This year, we also celebrate the resurrection of Christ not as we used to. Because of another virus. Because of the plague called war.
"Both last year's and this year's threat are united by the same thing: nothing can defeat Ukraine."
- Louis Allwood
US State Department confident of Ukrainian victory
Ukraine’s President Zelensky says he's expecting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary for Defence Lloyd Austin to visit Kyiv today.
Speaking on the BBC's Sunday Morning programme the Department of State spokesperson Ned Price said he was confident Zelensky would prevail in the war.
"This is going to be a victory for Ukraine; it is going to be a strategic defeat for Russia," he said.
- Louis Allwood
Putin to meet UN chief next week – reports
Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in Moscow next week, Interfax quoted the Kremlin as saying.
Guterres on Wednesday separately asked Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to receive him to discuss steps to bring about peace.
Russia had previously complained Guterres had not tried to contact the Kremlin leader since the start of what Russia calls its special military operation in Ukraine.
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