Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said during a press conference Saturday he will meet with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in Kyiv on Sunday.
Why it matters: Blinken and Austin will be the highest-ranking U.S. officials to visit Ukraine since the start of Russia's unprovoked invasion.
Moldova's Foreign Ministry summoned Russia's ambassador to the country on Friday to express "deep concern" over recent comments made by a Russian general that suggested the Kremlin is targeting its territory.
Why it matters: Maj. Gen. Rustam Minnekayev said Friday that Russia seeks full control of southern Ukraine to give it another "another way out to Transnistria," referring to the unrecognized breakaway state internationally recognized as part of Moldova.
Ukraine’s military has warned residents not to gather for Orthodox Easter after Russia rejected a ceasefire proposal for the religious holiday.
Driving the news: Curfews will remain in effect for traditional vigils that typically take place on Saturday night and run into Sunday, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense said in a statement Saturday morning.
Russian forces resumed air and ground attacks on a massive steel plant that is Ukraine's final stronghold in Mariupol and a shelter for around 1,000 civilians, a Ukrainian official said Saturday, according to AP.
Why it matters: The attacks signal a reversal of Russian President Vladimir Putin's Thursday order to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to cease assaults on the Azovstal steel plant and instead continue to block off the facility and starve out the Ukrainians soldiers.
New satellite images show the construction of another mass grave site in Vynohradne, Ukraine near Mariupol, which remains under siege, Maxar Technologies said Friday.
The big picture: The discovery follows previous satellite imagery showing the construction of mass grave sites in Bucha and Manhush.
Russia's defense ministry on Friday confirmed that one service member had died and 27 more "went missing" after the Moskva cruiser sank last week, according to Russian state media.
Why it matters: This is the first time Russia acknowledges casualties from the sinking of its flagship cruiser. Moscow had previously claimed that all of the ship's crew were evacuated.
A prominent Russian opposition activist and Washington Post opinions contributor was charged by a Russian court on Friday with spreading "false" information about the military, according to the Washington Post.
The big picture: Vladimir Kara-Murza, 40, was detained in Moscow and sentenced to 15 days in jail on April 12 for "disobeying a police order." The arrest came hours after CNN aired an interview in which Kara-Murza called the Kremlin "a regime of murderers."
A bipartisan group of 17 House lawmakers is calling for the U.S. to support Ukraine's battered health care system, according to a letter sent Friday to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
Latinos in the U.S. and Latin Americans are more likely than others to reconsider the workplace after the pandemic, Marina writes.
By the numbers: Two-thirds of Latinos polled in Microsoft’s 2022 Work Trend Index say they are now much more conscious about prioritizing health over their work when it comes to going to the office, and 60% say they are considering changing jobs in response.
The United Nations is seeing growing evidence of war crimes in Ukraine as a "horror story" of human rights violations unfolds, UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said Friday.
Driving the news: Russian forces during the nearly two months of war have "indiscriminately shelled and bombed populated areas, killing civilians and wrecking hospitals, schools and other civilian infrastructure, actions that may amount to war crimes," the UN said.
Russia plans to achieve full control of southern Ukraine and the country's Donbas region, the deputy commander of Russia's central military district said Friday, per the Russian state news agency TASS.
Why it matters: The objectives laid out by Maj. Gen.Rustam Minnekayev are a detailed look into what Russia hopes to achieve in the next phase of its invasion. So far, its goals have been mercurial and extremely broad.
Russia's bombardment has caused at least $60 billion in damage to Ukraine's infrastructure, World Bank president David Malpass said Thursday.
Driving the news: That "does not include the growing economic costs to Ukraine’s economy," as Russia's unprovoked invasion nears the two-month mark, Malpass said during a World Bank conference on Ukraine. With no end in sight, "those costs are rising," he added.
A tragic link between war and global warming could unfold imminently in Siberia: Wildfires that spew emissions may burn out of control because Russian military units that normally locate and fight them are in Ukraine.
Why it matters: Russian wildfires are a major source of carbon dioxide emissions, and some types of fires there also send black carbon, or soot, into the Arctic, which fuels sea ice melt.
No big country has struggled to roll out vaccines more than Democratic Republic of Congo, where less than 1% of the population is fully vaccinated.
State of play: Vaccines still aren’t available in some remote provinces of the central African giant, but vaccination rates are very low even in the capital, Kinshasa, home to 17 million people.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in an address denounced Russia's rejection of a proposed truce for the upcoming Orthodox Christian Easter weekend, saying it "shows very well how the leaders of [Russia] actually treat the Christian faith."
Why it matters: Russia earlier this week rejected a proposal from the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres to establish a four-day ceasefire in Ukraine to mark the Eastern Orthodox Holy Week and to allow civilians to evacuate parts of the country.
President Biden is finalizing plans to visit South Korea and then Japan in late May, letting him show support for two crucial allies amid increasingly hostile behavior from North Korea, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: The trip is a reminder the Biden administration — and the world — face security threats beyond Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It also shows how the president is returning to a more robust travel schedule as the White House eases many of its pandemic protocols.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday that Russia "must pay for violating global stability," calling for "a special tax for the war."
The big picture: Russia's unprovoked invasion has killed unknown thousands of soldiers and civilians since it launched on Feb. 24. More than 7.7 million Ukrainians have been internally displaced, according to the UN.
