US diplomatic and defense leaders are making their first visit to Kiev on Sunday since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine two months ago as intense fighting overshadows Orthodox Easter.

As the war, in which thousands of people died and millions were displaced, wraps up in two months, Foreign Ministers Antony Blinken and Defense Minister Lloyd Austin are visiting the capital of Ukraine.

Since the beginning of the conflict, several European leaders have traveled to Kiev to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky and provide support to Ukraine, but the United States has so far not sent any senior officials.

Blinken and Lloyd’s visit to Ukraine coincides with Easter in this largely Orthodox country.

“Our souls are filled with fierce hatred for the invaders and what they are doing. We will not let anger destroy us from within,” Zelensky said on the occasion of the holiday.

Pope Francis repeated his call for a ceasefire on the occasion of Orthodox Easter, in front of thousands of believers in St. Peter’s Square.

The US State Department declined to comment on the highly sensitive trip of President Joe Biden’s two top cabinet members.

On the ground, Russian forces show no signs of easing their attack after launching a missile over the southern city of Odessa, which Ukraine says has killed eight people, including a baby.

“Among the dead is a three-month-old baby. How did he threaten Russia? Killing children seems to be a new national idea of ​​the Russian Federation,” Zelensky said.

He also accused Russia of being a terrorist state and pretending to be Nazis in the devastated city of Mariupol that had been heavily bombed for weeks.

UN calls for ceasefire in Mariupol

The UN has called for an “immediate” ceasefire in Mariupol to allow the evacuation of the nearly 100,000 civilians stranded in this Ukrainian port city, which is almost entirely controlled by the Russian military, according to a statement released by its coordinator in Ukraine on Sunday.

“We need to stop fighting now to save lives. The longer we wait, the more lives are threatened. People must be let go today. Tomorrow will be too late,” said Amin Awad.

The last of several attempts to evacuate the city’s civilians failed Saturday, and a unit of Ukrainian fighters appears in a desperate situation in the tunnels under a steel mill.

On Saturday, about 200 residents gathered at a designated evacuation site in Mariupol, but were “dispersed” by Russian forces, municipal official Petro Andyushchenko told Telegram.

He assured that the Russians blocked the evacuation and that other civilians were taken to buses to Russian-controlled areas.

Earlier this morning, Ukraine said that Russian forces continued to bombard the Sea of ​​Azov city, including the Azovstal steelworks, the last stronghold of the resistance of Ukrainian fighters.

Mariupol, which the Kremlin claims to have taken over, is at the center of the Russian military’s plans to establish a land corridor between Russian-occupied Crimea and eastern Ukraine.

Although the conflict has spread across much of the country, many Ukrainians have endured the bombings to receive the traditional Orthodox Easter blessings they celebrate on Sunday.

Soldiers at the front in the port city shout “Glory to Ukraine!” by “Christ Is Risen!”

missile in Odessa

Further west, a missile that hit a residential building in the Black Sea port of Odessa killed eight people and injured 18, according to Zelensky, who said five missiles hit the city.

“We will identify those responsible for this attack, those responsible for Russian terrorism,” he said.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said it targeted an arms depot near Odessa and that Ukraine’s special services were preparing “a provocation using toxic chemicals” to blame Russia.

Western powers accuse Russia of making such accusations to cover up the attacks planned by their own forces.

A senior Russian military official said his country’s aim is to seize full control of the eastern Donbass region and southern Ukraine.

Russian forces, withdrawing from the north of Ukraine and the outskirts of Kiev after unsuccessful attempts to capture the capital, are already occupying most of the Donbass and the south.

war crime

Shifting their strategic focus to southern and eastern Ukraine, Russian forces left a trail of destruction around Kyiv.

A UN mission in the town of Bucha, near Kyiv, has documented “unlawful killings, including the extrajudicial killings of about 50 civilians,” according to the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The document states that Russian forces “indiscriminately bombard populated areas, kill civilians and destroy hospitals, schools and other civilian infrastructure, and may constitute war crimes.”

Tania Boikiv, 52, said Russian forces took her husband from their home in Bucha, detained him for two weeks, and then beat him to death.

“The scariest thing in my life, my husband, my love is not here,” she told AFP. “I don’t know what could be worse.”