The meeting should not delight Vladimir Putin. US Foreign Minister Antony Blinken and Defense Minister Llyod Austin will travel to kyiv this Sunday, April 24, two months to the day after the start of the Russian invasion, to discuss arms deliveries to the Ukraine. The latest was announced Thursday, April 21, for a total amount of $800 million. This military envelope must include dozens of heavy artillery pieces, 144,000 shells and ammunition as well as tactical and killer drones.
The president would like these weapons “even heavier and more powerful” against the Russian army, he said during a press conference in a metro station in downtown kyiv.
The United States is not alone in sending more and more ammunition to Ukraine. France, but also the United Kingdom are stepping up their efforts, like the Caesar guns delivered by Paris and capable of hitting a target 40 km away with excellent precision. Poland has also supplied Ukraine with weapons worth 1.5 billion euros, the Polish Prime Minister said on Saturday (April 23).
- The UN chief Monday in Ankara
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres will travel to Turkey, a key mediator in the conflict in Ukraine, on Monday before traveling to Moscow and kyiv, the UN said in a statement. But on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky criticized Antonio Guterres’ decision to travel first to Moscow and only then to Kyiv, saying there was “no justice and no logic in this order”.
Ankara is currently trying to arrange a summit in Istanbul between Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin, although Turkish officials admit that the prospects for such talks currently remain dim.
- Zelensky calls for a meeting with Putin
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky again called on Saturday for a meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin “to end the war”, repeating that “he was not afraid to meet” the Russian president if that would achieve a a peace agreement.
He also warned that kyiv will abandon negotiations with Moscow if its soldiers, entrenched in the vast metallurgical complex of Azovstal in Mariupol (southeast), a strategic Ukrainian port on the Sea of Azov, are killed by the Russian army.
- No truce for Orthodox Easter
Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, called on Saturday to pray for a “lasting peace” without mentioning the idea of a truce for the Easter weekend for Orthodox Christians.
The Ukrainian authorities have called on the Orthodox faithful to follow the ceremonies of the Orthodox Easter Vigil online, and not to derogate from the curfew, fearing “provocations” during ceremonies which usually attract crowds.
- Odessa in Russia’s sights
At least six people, including a baby, were killed in Russian strikes on Saturday on the port city of Odessa in southern Ukraine, according to kyiv, which fears that the toll will increase. The Russian army also claimed to have hit with high-precision missiles a large depot of weapons delivered to Ukrainian forces by the United States and European countries near Odessa.
Moscow announced on Friday April 22 that it was aiming for total control of southern Ukraine and the Donbass region in order to “ensure a land corridor to Crimea”. “This will weigh on vital infrastructure of the Ukrainian economy, the Black Sea ports through which deliveries of agricultural and metallurgical products are made,” said a senior Russian military official.
- Fierce fighting in the Kharkiv region
On Saturday morning, the Russian army said it had carried out 1,098 strikes with artillery and rockets in the past 24 hours. “They literally bomb everything (…) H24”, wrote on his Telegram channel the governor of the Lugansk region (east), Serguiï Gaidai, calling on the population to evacuate. He announced two dead and two wounded in Zolote.
Also in the east, Kharkiv Governor Oleg Synegoubov announced the recapture by Ukrainian forces “after long fierce fighting” of three villages north of the city. In the past 24 hours, three people have been killed and seven others injured by Russian shelling in this city, according to Oleg Synegoubov.