President Zelensky Condemns Russian Attack on Orthodox Palm Sunday That Kills Father and Son

President Volodymyr Zelensky. (Source: President.gov.ua)

JAKARTA - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned Russian airstrikes that coincided with Orthodox Palm Sunday celebrations, including an attack that killed a father and daughter in their home in Zaporizhzhia City.

The Ukrainian military is reporting Russian attacks and shelling across its front, with the heaviest fighting still focused on two towns in the eastern region of Donetsk - Bakhmut and Avdiivka.

It is known that Russian troops had surrounded Bakhmut for months in the longest fighting in more than a year of war.

Ukraine's State Emergency Service said a 50-year-old man and his 11-year-old daughter died after Russian troops hit a residential building in Zaporizhzhia, in the southeast.

A woman, identified as the wife and mother of the victims, was pulled from under the rubble.

"This is how the terrorist state marks Palm Sunday," President Zelensky said in a late-night video address, launching Reuters April 10.

"This is Russia's way of placing itself in greater isolation from the world," he said.

President Zelensky praised the units holding positions in the east and said he hoped Palm Sunday next year "will take place with peace and freedom for all our people".

The majority of Ukraine's 41 million people are Orthodox Christians celebrating Easter a week from now.

Meanwhile, Pope Francis, who is highly critical of the Russian war, prayed for peace during Easter Mass at the Vatican: "Help the beloved people of Ukraine in their journey towards peace, and shine Easter light on the people of Russia."

Separately, the Russian Defense Ministry said its troops had destroyed a depot containing 70,000 tonnes of fuel near Zaporizhzhia. They also said its forces had destroyed Ukrainian military warehouses storing missiles, ammunition and artillery in the Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions.

In contrast, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said that more than 40 enemy attacks had been repelled over the last 24 hours.

It said Russian forces had launched an unsuccessful offensive in the western region of Bakhmut, which is now largely destroyed but still had a pre-war population of 70,000. At least 10 towns and villages have been under Russian assault.

The report said Russian forces had also made no headway in the offensive on Avdiivka, the second focus of the fighting in the east, and reported widespread Russian shelling in the north. Officials in the south say that Russian planes have used guided bombs against towns in the Kherson region.

The military says Ukrainian troops will continue to defend Bakhmut from continued Russian attacks, although President Zelensky said last week that if his troops risked being outflanked, they could withdraw.

"The enemy is trying to take the stronghold of our city by any means," said Serhiy Cherevatyi, spokesman for Ukraine's Eastern Military Command.

"Even though it was very difficult, we still controlled the situation. Our units held back the enemy and inflicted maximum damage," he continued.

Meanwhile, military analyst Ukraine Dari Zhdanov said that Russian forces control the central city of Bakhmut, and most of their actions are now focused on the city's railway station.