Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of conscripting civilians in the Russian-controlled territories of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, in what would be a breach of international law.
Look back at Sunday's developments as they happened with our blog.
Key events
- Russia attempting to starve out Ukrainians inside Azovstal steel plant
- Three killed in Russian shelling in Kharkiv region
- More than 450 children killed or injured in Ukraine
- Zelenskyy doesn't want to believe Russia would use nuclear weapons in Ukraine
- Baby among eight people killed in missile strike in Odesa
- US Secretary of State to meet with Zelenskyy in Kyiv
Live updates
By Kate Ainsworth
That's all for the blog today
Thanks for following along throughout the day.
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By Kate Ainsworth
In pictures: What remains of besieged Mariupol
The entire southern port city is now under Russian control, with the exception of the Azovstal steel plant, which is facing continued assaults.
Mariupol has been bombarded relentlessly since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, and those that remain in the city have barely any food, water, power or heat.
What was once a bustling city of over 400,000 people has now been reduced to rubble.
Reuters photographer Alexander Ermochenko has captured these images on the ground of the port city.
By Kate Ainsworth
Russian occupation of Ukraine leaves massive human cost
Across Ukraine many liberated towns and villages are now starting to tackle their difficult recovery.
In some communities, leaders are warning the damage goes far beyond broken buildings, and medical and psychological support is desperately needed.
Europe correspondent Isabella Higgins reports from the village of Mokrets, east of Kyiv.
By Kate Ainsworth
Ukraine's military destroys Russian command post in Kherson
The Ukrainian military says it has destroyed a Russian command post in Kherson, a city in southern Ukraine that fell to Russian forces early in the war.
The Ukrainian military intelligence agency posted a statement saying the command post was hit on Friday, and two generals were killed and one was critically wounded.
Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said 50 senior Russian officers were in the command centre when it came under attack, but didn't know if any were killed or injured.
Russia has not commented on the attack.
By Kate Ainsworth
Ukrainians in Australia pray for peace during Orthodox Easter service
Australian Ukrainians and those recently arrived from the war torn country have spent this morning praying for peace during Orthodox Easter services.
Inna Ilienko arrived with her eight-year-old son last month, leaving behind most of her family including her husband.
Speaking outside a western Sydney church, she says while it's a very difficult time the local community has made them both most welcome.
"We have a community here, a Ukrainian community after we arrived to Sydney every Saturday we come to Lidcombe to Ukrainian community, my son Andrew goes to Ukrainian school every Sunday," she said.
By Kate Ainsworth
Ukrainian children decorate patriotic eggs for Orthodox Easter
"Many people are diverting from tradition a little, not drawing the usual images like stars, flowers," said Mariya Poshyvailo, who works at the Ivan Honchar Museum National Centre of Folk Culture.
"Instead, they want to draw something current, like Ukraine's trident symbol, or write slogans like 'Glory to Ukraine', 'Glory to the Heroes'. What is close to them."
Ahead of Orthodox Easter, she was painting her egg in orange and gold.
"It's the continuation of life ... happiness," she said.
"This is, firstly, a symbol of life," said Tetyana Poshyvaylo, deputy head of the Ivan Honchar Museum.
"I am holding a nucleus of this, the birth of life. And it has always strengthened us and is the amulet of the house."
The head of Ukraine's Orthodox church asked clergy and the faithful this week to forgo night-time Easter services in areas of the country affected by fighting, fearing Russian bombardments will continue during the Orthodox Easter period.
By Kate Ainsworth
OSCE trying to secure release of members detained in eastern Ukraine
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe says it's working to secure the release of several Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) members who have been detained in eastern Ukraine.
"The OSCE is extremely concerned that a number of SMM national mission members have been deprived of their liberty in Donetsk and Luhansk," a spokesperson said.
"The OSCE is using all available channels to facilitate the release of its staff."
It began its mission in eastern Ukraine in 2014, but its mandate expired on March 31 this year, after Russia accused it of bias and blocked its extension — something Britain's deputy ambassador Dierdre Brown criticised Russia over on Friday.
"And now we have received alarming reports that Russia's proxies in Donbas are threatening Mission staff, equipment and premises and that Russian forces have taken SMM staff members captive," she said.
In March the OSCE had evacuated nearly 500 international mission members from Ukraine.
The OSCE says its international military observers are part of an unarmed, civilian mission to "observe and report in an impartial and objective way on the situation.
By Kate Ainsworth
Ukraine claims Russia plans to invade neighbouring countries
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has claimed Russia has plans to invade neighbouring countries, saying the assault on his nation is "only the beginning".
Europe correspondent Nick Dole reports from Ukraine.
By Kate Ainsworth
In pictures: Ukrainian refugees queue for food in Switzerland
Hundreds of Ukrainians have lined up for food handouts in central Zurich as Switzerland struggles to cope with the arrival of around 40,000 refugees since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February.
Refugees in official accommodation receive some financial support from the state, although it's often not enough to live on in a country where the cost of living is one of the highest in the world.
Those staying with private host families — around half the arrivals, according to authorities — are falling through the cracks of the welfare system altogether.
Charities in Switzerland say many Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion are turning to them for food, clothing and medical treatment — as captured by Reuters photographer Arnd Wiegmann.
By Kate Ainsworth
Turkey closes air space to planes carrying troops from Russia to Syria
Tuirkey's state broadcaster TRT Haber is reporting that the country has closed its airspace to both military and civilian planes carrying troops from Russia to Syria after consultation with Moscow.
NATO member Turkey has good relations with both Russia and Ukraine and has sought to mediate in the war between them.
"We closed airspace to Russia's military planes and even to civilian planes going to Syria and carrying soldiers," Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said.
He said permission had been given for three month periods until April, and then the flights stopped.
He said talks were continuing between Russia and Ukraine and the sides were working towards a draft joint declaration.
If progress is made in negotiations, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy agreed that a meeting could be held in Turkey, Cavusoglu said.
By Kate Ainsworth
Ukraine accuses Russia of trying to conscript Ukrainian civilians
The UK's Ministry of Defence says Ukraine's military has accused Russia of planning to conscript Ukrainians from the Russian-occupied regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.
In its latest defence intelligence update, the ministry says it would be a similar conscription method to what Russia used in the Donbas and Crimea regions.
The ministry says any enlistment of Ukrainian civilians into the Russian armed forces would breach Article 51 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and would be a violation of international law.
By Kate Ainsworth
Ukraine asks for equipment to operate its nuclear power plants
This includes radiation measurement devices, protective material, computer-related assistance, power supply systems and diesel generators, the IAEA's Director General Rafael Grossi said.
"We will coordinate the implementation of the assistance that the IAEA and its member states will provide, including by delivering required equipment directly to Ukraine's nuclear sites," he said.
"The needs are great and I'm very grateful for the considerable support that our Member States have already indicated they will make available."
Ukraine has 15 operational reactors at four plants of which seven are currently connected to the grid, including two at the Zaporizhzhia facility which is currently controlled by Russia.
Grossi said the IAEA was still not receiving remote data transmission from its monitoring systems installed at the defunct Chornobyl plant, which he is due to visit next week.
He said he would provide radiation monitoring equipment as well as personal protective equipment during his visit.
Russian forces occupied Chernobyl soon after invading Ukraine, but left on March 31.
By Kate Ainsworth
Russia attempting to starve out Ukrainians inside Azovstal steel plant
In its latest update, it says Russia is attempting to starve out those who remain inside the plant, and won't allow the civilians trapped inside to evacuate.
The think tank says Russian forces are likely to continue the scale of their offensives on the ground in the coming days, but it's too soon to know how fast they will move, or how large the offensives will be.
By Kate Ainsworth
Three killed in Russian shelling in Kharkiv region
Three people were killed and seven were wounded by Russian shelling in the eastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv on Saturday, the region's governor said.
Earlier on Saturday, Ukrainian authorities said that shelling had killed two civilians in a frontline town in the Luhansk region, and that a missile strike killed eight people, including a three-month-old baby in the southern port city of Odesa.
Russia's defence ministry says its forces have shot down a Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jet and destroyed three MI-9 helicopters at an airfield in the Kharkiv region.
By Kate Ainsworth
In pictures: The aftermath of attacks in Odesa
At least eight people were killed and 18 others were injured after missile strikes hit two military bases and two residential buildings in the southern port city of Odesa.
A three-month-old baby was one of those killed in the attack, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed.
"The war started when this baby was one month old. Can you imagine what is happening?" he said.
These images by Reuters photographer Igor Tkachenko capture the shock of the affected residents, and the efforts by Ukrainian services to control the damage.
By Kate Ainsworth
More than 450 children killed or injured in Ukraine
Save the Children's director in Ukraine says more than 450 children have been killed or injured in the country since Russia began its invasion in February.
Pete Walsh said he was horrified to learn that a three-month-old baby was among the fatalities after missile strikes in Odesa on Saturday.
"This child's senseless death adds to the spiralling number of child casualties. More than 450 children have been killed or injured in just eight weeks of war," he said.
"There is no safe place in Ukraine. Two-thirds of the 7.5 million children in Ukraine have fled their homes and many remain in grave danger.
"The rules of war are very clear: children are not a target. An immediate cessation of hostilities is the only way to protect children from this horrific violence and allow our colleagues to safely deliver crucial humanitarian assistance to those who desperately need it."
By Kate Ainsworth
Zelenskyy reiterates desire to meet with Putin to end war
It was during this media conference that he revealed that US officials would visit on Sunday and that eight people died in attacks in Odesa — but he also answered several questions about whether he planned to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, whether he was worried about threats made against him personally.
Here's some of what he had to say:
"I'm not very afraid — my bodyguards are very afraid, I'll tell you frankly, and my family is terrified, to be completely honest.
"As for continuing the subject of meeting with the President of Russia, I want to stop the war and end it. There is a diplomatic path. There is a military path.
"So any person with common sense always chooses the diplomatic route because he knows, even if it is difficult — it can stop the loss of thousands, tens of thousands, and with such neighbors (like Russian Federation) and hundreds, and maybe even millions of victims.
"The Russian Federation does not consider independent states, does not consider and does not respect the culture of our values, language, etc. It (Russian Federation) does not believe that we, people, have the right to independence, which means we have no right to life.
"Here, today we are fighting for this life, so it means we are fighting for independence, so we are fighting for our freedom, it is a war for freedom.
"From the very beginning, I insisted on negotiations with the leader of the Russian Federation because I believe that any format for meeting through mediators with Russia or passing this or that information to the leader of the Russian Federation through friendly countries will not give the desired result.
"I believe that this war can be stopped by the one who started it."
By Kate Ainsworth
Russian troops came to kidnap and murder this Ukrainian village leader. Here's how she outsmarted them
Warning: This article contains details readers might find distressing.
You can continue reading this story by Europe correspondent Isabella Higgins here.
By Kate Ainsworth
Where are Russian forces located in Ukraine?
In its latest defence update, the UK's Ministry of Defence shows Russian troops remain concentrated in Ukraine's south and east.
The ministry says there's two groups outside Izyum, while southern forces are advancing towards Zaporizhzhia.
It says Ukrainian forces are likely advancing towards contested territory to the north of Kherson and Nova Kakhova.
