Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu in Moscow. Putin said the two countries were “actively working through our military departments” and regularly exchanged “useful information,” while Li said ties between the two countries “have already entered a new era.”

Summary of the last 24 hours of the war:

• Ukrainian forces are finding more and more Chinese components in Russian weapons used in Ukraine, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyi told Reuters. China has repeatedly denied sending military equipment to Russia.

• The decision of Poland and Hungary to ban the import of grain from Ukraine to protect their own agricultural sectors was not accepted by the European Commission, Reuters reports. An EC spokesman said that unilateral actions by EU member states on trade are “unacceptable”. Bulgaria is considering a similar move. Local news agency BTA reported that Agriculture Minister Yavor Gechev said that the country is considering banning grain imports from Ukraine.

• Ukrainian and Russian forces are fighting extremely heavy battles in the ruins of the eastern city of Bakhmut, but pro-Kiev forces are still holding on. Russia reported that units of Wagner’s mercenaries, supported by aviation, captured two more blocks.

• One hundred and thirty Ukrainian prisoners of war have been released and returned home as part of the “great Easter exchange”, the high-ranking president of Ukraine announced.

• A Russian official said that four people were killed and 10 were wounded as a result of shelling from the Ukrainian side of Donetsk, which is controlled by Russia. Denys Pushylin reported that a seven-year-old girl is among the victims in Yasynuvata.

• Russia used drones to attack Ukrainian law enforcement officers in Kherson, the regional police reports. It is reported that an attack was made on a police car in the Korabel area, as a result of which two policemen were injured and the car was damaged, and one policeman was injured in Berislav.

• A new $115 billion package of international support gives Ukraine more confidence that it can defeat Russian forces amid fears that the war could drag on longer than expected, Ukraine’s finance minister said on Saturday. Serhii Marchenko said that the finance ministers of the Big Seven assured him that they would support Ukraine as long as it was needed.

• Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba will visit Baghdad on Monday, his first trip to Iraq since Russia invaded Ukraine. Kuleba will hold talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein.

• Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called for the creation of a group of countries that do not participate in the Russian-Ukrainian war in order to achieve peace. Lula, who has criticized the role of the US and the EU in the conflict, said it would be about states that “would rather talk about peace than war”, quoting Xi Jinping.

The latest on the war in Ukraine, day 418, LIVETEXT:

06:57Over the past day, the Air Force of the Armed Forces shot down several Russian drones, including the Eleron reconnaissance aircraft and another Lancet-type kamikaze. Ukrainian troops also destroyed an anti-aircraft missile complex and 3 ammunition depots, the Major General said in a statement.

06:46The Orthodox Church of Ukraine and the Moscow Patriarchate held Easter services in the same complex of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, but at different times. When entering the territory of the monastery, the police checked visitors’ documents and baskets.

In the Lavra, the most important Orthodox monastery in Ukraine, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church for the first time held an Easter service in the Ukrainian language. Previously, the Lavra was controlled by the Russian Church, officially known as the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.

11:50 in the eveningFifteen people died as a result of Friday’s attack by Russians on a residential building in Sloviansk, according to the final data announced by the governor of the Donetsk region Pavlo Kyrilenko, kyivindependent reports. News.ro reports. 24 civilians were injured.

21:17Russia lost more than $1 billion worth of electronic warfare equipment in the war in Ukraine, according to open-source think tank Molfar. The rate of destruction increased significantly in March 2023, which may indicate an imminent Ukrainian offensive, according to independent researcher and analyst Chris Owen.