Officials in western Russia said a Ukrainian drone attack killed at least six people Monday in the Belgorod region near the Russia-Ukraine border.
Vyacheslav Gladkov, the regional governor in Belgorod, said on Telegram the drone struck several vehicles and that the attack injured more than 30 people.
Ukraine’s military said Monday the country’s air defenses shot down 12 of 13 drones launched by Russian forces in overnight attacks.
The Ukrainian air force said the drones were intercepted over the Sumy region, located in northeastern Ukraine along the border with Russia.
Sumy’s regional military administration reported on Telegram a Russian airstrike on an energy facility. There was no immediate information about any damage or casualties, with the agency saying the result of the attack was being clarified.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in an Easter message Sunday from Kyiv, called on Ukrainians to unite in prayer for each other and soldiers on the front line, saying God has a "Ukrainian flag on his shoulder."
"Let's pray for each other. When we all came closer to each other, we were no longer strangers to each other," he said in a video posted on Telegram. Standing in front of the 1,000-year-old Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, Zelenskyy noted that Ukraine has now been fighting for 802 days against Russia.
In Moscow, President Vladimir Putin attended an Easter service led by the head of Russia's Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, a staunch supporter of the Russian leader and Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Eastern Orthodox Christians usually celebrate Easter later than Catholic and Protestant churches, because they use a different calendar and methodology for calculating the anniversary of what they believe is Christ’s resurrection.
Some information for this report was provided by Reuters, The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.
