US diplomats to return to Ukraine, Blinken tells Zelensky: Senior US official

Blinken's meeting with Zelensky lasted 3 hours

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spent about three hours with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his senior team in the capital Kyiv.

"That was the entire focus of our visit. We wanted to focus on the work that needed to be done in looking at the game plan that we have, how we're moving forward across all of these different lines of effort," Blinken told reporters from an undisclosed location in Poland near the Ukrainian border.

Asked by a reporter what they had seen on their way to the capital, Blinken said they had taken a train from southwestern Poland to Kyiv.

"So we didn't see a lot except looking out the train window. In Kyiv itself, we went right to the presidential palace."

The US top diplomat said, "there wasn't much of an opportunity to talk to average Ukrainians."

We certainly saw people on the streets in Kyiv — evidence of the fact that the battle for Kyiv was won," he said.

On the surface, there were signs of "normal life" in parts of the city, he said.

"But that's in stark contrast to what's going on in other parts of Ukraine, in the south and the east, where the Russian brutality is doing horrific things to people every single day," Blinken said.

Some context: While in Kyiv, Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with Zelensky, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov and Interior Minister Denys Monastrysky for an extended bilateral meeting, a senior State Department official said.

US diplomats back in Ukraine "starting next week": Blinken

American diplomats will be back in Ukraine "starting next week," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday.

"They'll then start the process of looking at how we actually reopen the embassy itself in Kyiv, I think that will take place over a couple of weeks," Blinken said. 

"We're doing it deliberately. We're doing it carefully with the security of our personnel foremost in mind."

Blinken said that US President Joe Biden will nominate Bridget Brink as the US Ambassador to Ukraine. He described Brink as "deeply experienced in the region." The post has been without a confirmed ambassador since Marie Yovanovitch was recalled in May 2019. Brink is the current US ambassador to Slovakia.

Ukraine will be "around a lot longer than Vladimir Putin": Blinken

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday that a "sovereign independent Ukraine will be around a lot longer than Vladimir Putin is on the scene".

"The bottom line is this. We don't know how the rest of this war will unfold, but we do know that a sovereign independent Ukraine will be around a lot longer than Vladimir Putin is on the scene," Blinken said. "And our support for Ukraine going forward will continue. It will continue until we see final success. 

Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for three hours on Sunday.

Speaking at a news conference at an undisclosed location near the Polish-Ukrainian border, Austin said it was "a very productive meeting" and an "engaging session."

"We were very happy to have that opportunity," he said. "During the meeting, we expressed our deepest condolences to the president for the loss of so many civilians, and of course, the loss of those courageous troops that have done a magnificent job of pushing back Russian forces. 

"We also expressed our admiration for their professionalism and for their commitment to defend their democracy."

US "doing everything we can" to get Ukraine what it needs as fight evolves: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Ukraine's needs are changing as the nature of the fight evolves, in part because the focus has shifted to the east of the country.

"So (the Ukrainians) need long-range fires. You've heard them express a need for tanks. And we're doing everything that we can to get them the types of support, the types of artillery and munitions that will be effective in this stage of the fight," Austin told reporters during a news conference at an undisclosed location near the Polish-Ukrainian border following high level talks on Monday.

"You've seen what we've done here in the recent past with a recent $800 million authorization provided by the President that allows us to provide five battalions of 155 howitzers, hundreds of thousands of rounds of artillery, and so we're also engaging our colleagues in other countries for the same type of capability."

Austin said he has seen "indications" that "many countries are going to come forward and provide additional munitions and howitzers."

So we're going to push as hard as we can, as quickly as we can to get them what they need," he said.

Some context: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Austin traveled to the Ukrainian capital on Sunday, where they met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other Ukrainian officials, making them the highest-level US officials to have traveled to the country since the Russian invasion began in late February.

Russia failing, Ukraine succeeding: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters Monday that Russia was "failing in Ukraine" and that "Ukraine is succeeding."

"Russia has sought as its aim to take away (Ukraine's) sovereignty, to take away its independence. That has failed," Blinken said during a news conference at an undisclosed location near the Polish-Ukrainian border.

"It sought to assert the power of its military, its economy. We of course are seeing just the opposite.

“We don’t know how the rest of this war will unfold, but we do know that a sovereign independent Ukraine will be around a lot longer than Vladimir Putin is on the scene.”

Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other Ukrainian officials in Kyiv on Sunday, making them the highest-level US officials to have traveled to the country since the Russian invasion began. 

"Russia has made minor advances": UK Ministry of Defence

Russia has made "minor advances" since shifting its focus to taking control over the eastern Donbas region, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) said Monday.

"Without sufficient logistical and combat support enablers in place, Russia has yet to achieve a significant breakthrough. Ukraine’s defence of Mariupol has also exhausted many Russian units and reduced their combat effectiveness," the MoD said on Twitter in an intelligence update.

"Russia’s Ministry of Defence has proposed compensation payments for the families of deceased service personnel be overseen by military rather than civilian officials. This likely reflects a desire to hide the true scale of Russia’s losses from the domestic population."

US diplomats to return to Ukraine, Blinken tells Zelensky: Senior State Department official

From CNN's Kylie Atwood and Jennifer Hansler 

US diplomats will return to Ukraine, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during their meeting in Kyiv Sunday, a senior State Department official said.

The diplomats will “start with day trips into Lviv" and "graduate to potentially other parts of the country and ultimately, resume (their) presence in Kyiv,” the State Department official said.

Blinken, who traveled to Kyiv alongside Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, also said US President Joe Biden will nominate Bridget Brink as the US Ambassador to Ukraine, according to the State Department official.

The post has been without a confirmed ambassador since Marie Yovanovitch was recalled in May 2019. Brink is the current US ambassador to Slovakia.

Russia says a fire has broken out at an oil depot in its Bryansk region

From CNN’s Hannah Ritchie and Isa Soares 

A fire has broken out at an oil depot in the Bryansk region of Russia, state news agency TASS reported Monday citing government sources. 

“The Emergency Situations Ministry has confirmed there’s a fire. There’s also a confirmation that it’s the fuel tanks," TASS reported, citing the government’s press office, which also said first responders were on their way to the scene. 

Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry in Bryansk received reports of the fire at 2am Moscow time, according to TASS. The ministry sent rescue teams to the scene and these confirmed the fire was at an oil depot, it said. 

The cause of the fire remains unclear. 

Some context: On April 14, Russia’s top law enforcement body said it was investigating an alleged Ukrainian helicopter strike in the Bryansk region, just days after the Kremlin accused Ukraine of mounting a helicopter attack on a fuel depot in the neighboring Belgorod region. 

It's 7 a.m in Kyiv. Here's what you need to know

This weekend, in the shadows of a devastating war, Ukrainians attempted to celebrate one of their most important holidays of the year, Orthodox Easter.

Here's the latest on Russia's invasion into Ukraine if you're just joining us:

• US visit: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Sunday, making them the highest-level US officials to have traveled to the country since the Russian invasion began. Blinken said during the meeting that US diplomats would return to Ukraine this week.
• Mariupol under attack: Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said Russian forces were "continuously attacking" the encircled Azovstal steel plant in the besieged city of Mariupol on Orthodox Easter Sunday. Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed earlier this week that Russia forces had achieved the "liberation" of Mariupol, but ordered his forces to stop short of taking the Azovstal plant, the last major bastion of Ukrainian defense in the city. 
• Kherson: The military head of the south-central city of Kryvyi Rih said Sunday that Ukraine had observed preparations for a possible offensive by Russian forces from the Kherson region, adding defenses were being bolstered in the area. In televised remarks, Oleksandr Vilkul said Russian forces were "forming an offensive strike formation in our direction in the Kherson region." Vilkul said the Kryvyi Rih garrison was in a state of readiness and had defenses prepared.
• UN visit: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “will be received by President Vladimir Putin” on Tuesday in Moscow, after having a working meeting and lunch with the foreign minister of Russia, the UN said. He is also expected to meet President Zelensky on Thursday in Ukraine, according to a UN spokesperson.
• Forcible deportation: Russia has forcibly deported Mariupol citizens to Primorsky Krai in Russia's Far East region, according to the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights. Lyudmyla Denisova said volunteers told her a train arrived in the city of Nakhodka on April 21 with 308 Ukrainians from Mariupol, including mothers with young children, people with disabilities and students.
• Russia's onslaught: An adviser to President Zelensky's administration said Sunday that Russia was "trying to depopulate the east of Ukraine," amid heavy fighting there. Earlier this week, Russia revealed that the goal of its invasion of Ukraine is to take "full control" over southern Ukraine as well as the eastern Donbas region, which has been the front line of the country's conflict with Russia since 2014.