Russian forces continued to attack Ukrainian civilian targets during the 24 hours to Easter morning, as well as continuing assaults in Bakmut and other battlegrounds.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense reported that Russian forces fired on sites in nine of Ukraine’s oblasts (provinces), and that four civilians were killed and 16 injured, during that period. The death toll from Friday's bombing of an apartment building in Slovyansk today rose to 12.
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Using mortars, tanks, artillery, rockets and aviation, Russian forces fired on 122 population areas and damaged 106 infrastructure objects to Easter morning.
Around 02:30 in the morning, Russian troops fired S-300 missiles at communities in the Zaporizhzhia region, according to UkrInform. It completely destroyed the local church, dating to 1906, in the village of Komyshuvakha.
“One of them hit the church. It is the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of St. Michael the Archangel, our central church in the village of Komyshuvakha,” the head of the community, Yuri Karapetian, said. “Thanks to God and the common sense of our clergy, at that time there were no service and no Easter food blessing in the church, because it is usually very crowded here.”
Senior priest Volodymyr told UkrInform that there was an instruction not to hold night services due to the threat of the missile attack.
“We were planning to hold the service and bless Easter food at 05:00 in the morning. Around 02:30, we heard an explosion. All services have been postponed, and we are dismantling the rubble,” senior priest Volodymyr told.
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Most Ukrainians and Russians celebrate Easter this weekend in line with the Julian calendar.
Vladimir Putin marked Easter in a Moscow cathedral with the Russian Orthodox church's leader, Kiril, who has in the past publicly prayed for the death of Ukrainians. Putin applauded Kiril's role in his remarks.
At the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral in Kyiv, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, Patriarch of the Ukrainian Catholic faith, was flanked by armed soldiers as he blessed traditional Easter baskets (‘koshyky’) following morning Liturgy.
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