[LIVE] War in Ukraine: the head of American diplomacy expected in kyiv

A Ukrainian female soldier wears a heart-shaped accessory in the color of the Ukrainian flag donated by a child at a checkpoint in Bakhmut, eastern Ukraine, April 23, 2022. AFP - YASUYOSHI CHIBA

Text by: RFI Follow

4 mins

On the 60th day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on April 24, follow live the latest information on the conflict which has lasted for two months this Sunday.

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The main points:

► The head of the American diplomacy

this Sunday, two months after the start of the Russian invasion in Ukraine, where the hopes of a

flew away with deadly strikes in Odessa and the failure of an evacuation of civilians in Mariupol.

► The number of refugees fleeing the Russian invasion is approaching 5.2 million, according to the UN.

have left their homes but are still in Ukraine.

► UN Secretary General

to Russia on Tuesday 26 April where he will be received by Vladimir Putin.

This is the first time that the UN official has been received by the Russian authorities since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

Times are given in Universal Time (UT),

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4:00 am: Volodymyr Zelensky on the verge of tears on Saturday evening

This Sunday, it has been two months since the war in Ukraine began, two months during which a man appeared on all screens, Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president who speaks daily in nightly video addresses to his people, reports our correspondent in Kiev,

.

This Saturday evening, he spoke to the Ukrainian and international press in an original way since he held this press conference at the bottom of the Maidan metro station, in the center of the Ukrainian capital.

The Ukrainian head of state returned to the hot issues of the moment, Mariupol, international military aid, but he also let his heart and guts speak as rarely before.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks to international media during a press conference at a metro station in kyiv on April 23, 2022. AFP - GENYA SAVILOV

On this Orthodox Easter weekend, there is no truce in Ukraine, where the bombardments continued on Saturday, notably in Kharkiv and Odessa.

A context that weighed heavily on the tone of Volodymyr Zelensky's press conference, which was not only combative but revealed anger and strong emotion.

First, the Ukrainian president indicated that this Sunday, in kyiv, he would discuss with the American secretaries of state and defense, Antony Blinken, and Lloyd Austin.

On the program, new deliveries of large-caliber artillery pieces, the only way according to Zelensky to take back from the Russian army the territories invaded for two months.

Volodymyr Zelensky also admitted that an unblocking of the siege of Mariupol by military means was impossible at this stage, and he condemned the initiatives of Russia when the Kremlin wishes to set up in the Kherson region a referendum to establish a people's republic similar to that of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Finally, the Ukrainian head of state, on the verge of tears, spoke of the bombing of Odessa this Saturday, which killed eight people, including a 28-year-old mother and her three-month-old daughter.

He called the Russians "

", condemning actions similar to those eighty years ago in Europe.

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• Ukraine

• Russia

• Day to day war in Ukraine

• Vladimir Poutine

• Volodymyr Zelensky

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War in Ukraine - Day 59

The day when Volodymyr Zelensky again called for a meeting with Vladimir Putin