In an attempt to “bring an end to the war,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has proposed a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Local sources claim that Russian soldiers “thwarted” an attempt to evacuate citizens from the destroyed city of Mariupol, where many people remain stranded. Meanwhile, a Russian airstrike on the Ukrainian Black Sea city of Odessa resulted in the deaths of six people, including a baby, and injured another eighteen, as hopes for an Orthodox Easter truce faded. Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said during a news conference that whoever initiated this war will be able to finish it.

As long as it resulted in a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, he was “not terrified” of meeting with Putin.

Talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin were always a priority for Zelenskyy. Not because I want to, but because I need to in order to resolve this problem diplomatically. “We have faith in our partners, but we have no faith in Russia,” he said.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Kyiv tomorrow, as the Russian invasion of Ukraine approaches its third month. Russian forces “dispersed” roughly 200 inhabitants who had gathered at the evacuation meeting location announced by Kiev, according to Mariupol city official Petandryushchenko, who posted on Telegram that the evacuation had been prevented. According to him, he and others were urged to get on Russian-controlled buses. And Kiev warned that the death toll in Odessa would almost certainly climb.

“Five Ukrainians were murdered and 18 were injured. ” Even so, those are the only ones we could locate. Andriy Yermak, chief of Ukraine’s presidential office, stated on Telegram that the death toll is likely to be high. A three-month-old baby was one of the victims. Two Russian TU-95 missiles fired from the Caspian Sea were intercepted by Ukraine’s air defense systems, according to the Ukrainian air force. However, four other missiles were reported to have struck the city, including civilian facilities. The air force’s southern command claimed on Facebook that two missiles struck a military site and two struck residential properties.

When Moscow’s forces tried to attack Odessa, which is primarily Russian-speaking, Ukraine refused their efforts. The Port City shopping mall in Mariupol had been the site of an announcement that people should congregate at 12 o’clock midday on the nearby highway.

This time, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk declared, “We will try to evacuate women, children, and the elderly once more today” via Telegram. In recent days, Ukraine had to postpone evacuations out of Mariupol due to a lack of agreement from Russia. Yesterday evening, Ukrainian President Viktor Vereshchuk swore that his country would keep trying to evacuate civilians from the damaged city. “I can sympathise with your situation. Many of the corridors have been vandalised. Nonetheless, she urged Telegram users to keep going until they succeed.

A weekend truce between Ukraine and Russia had been hoped for, as both nations were celebrating Orthodox Easter. Nevertheless, hopes were dashed when negotiations between Moscow and Kiev came to a halt and Russia declared its intention to annex all of Ukraine’s eastern and southern provinces to its borders. The conflict in Ukraine will enter its third month tomorrow. but a senior Russian military general declared that “the second phase of the special operation” – as Moscow refers to its invasion of Ukraine – has just begun.

Rustam Minnekaev, a Russian army major general, said yesterday that one of the Russian army’s goals is to take full control of the Donbas and southern Ukraine. Many parts of the eastern and southern Donbas region have been taken over by Russian forces after they were forced to withdraw from Kyiv and northern Ukraine. Russian-speaking inhabitants in Moldova’s pro-Russian enclave of Transnistria are “being oppressed,” according to Gen. Minnekaev, who stated their goal was to “create a land corridor to Crimea,” which Russia annexed in 2014. Following a stop in Moscow to meet with Vladimir Putin, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres will meet with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy next week to discuss the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

According to a UN statement, Guterres will meet with Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian foreign minister on Thursday, two days after his visit to Moscow. Putin will meet with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday, according to the Kremlin. Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24th, Guterres has addressed letters asking for these face-to-face encounters to try to reclaim the UN’s initiative in the conflict.