Ukraine Marks Its Third Easter At War As It Comes Under Fire From Russian Drones And Troops

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — As Ukraine marked its third Easter at war, Russia on Sunday launched a barrage of drones concentrated in Ukraine’s east, wounding more than a dozen people, and claimed its troops took control of a village they had been targeting.

Ukraine’s air force said that Russia had launched 24 Shahed drones overnight, of which 23 were shot down.

Six people, including a child, were wounded in a drone strike in the eastern Kharkiv region, regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said. Ten more were wounded in an airstrike Sunday afternoon on the Kharkiv regional capital, also called Kharkiv, Syniehubov said, adding the city was attacked by an aerial bomb.

Fires broke out when debris from drones that were shot down fell on buildings in the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region. No casualties were reported.

The Russian Ministry of Defense announced Sunday that its troops had taken control of the village of Ocheretyne, which has been in the crosshairs of Russian forces in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. Drone footage obtained by The Associated press showed the village battered by fighting. Not a single person is seen in the footage obtained late Friday, and no building in Ocheretyne appears to have been left untouched by the fighting.

Officials in Kyiv urged residents to follow Orthodox Easter services online due to safety concerns. Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv city administration, warned that “even on such bright days of celebration, we can expect evil deeds from the aggressor.”

In his Easter address, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Ukrainians to be “united in one common prayer.”

In a video filmed in front of Kyiv’s Saint Sophia Cathedral, wearing a traditional Vyshyvanka embroidered shirt, Zelenskyy said that