International

Russia-Ukraine war: What happened today (April 23)

By NPR Staff

Published April 23, 2022 at 1:59 PM PDT

This story was published more than 2 years ago.

People leave a residential area after Russian shelling struck the Ukrainian city of Odesa on Saturday. At least six people were killed, according to Ukrainian officials.

As Saturday draws to a close in Kyiv and in Moscow, here are the key developments of the day:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says two U.S. Cabinet officials will meet him in Kyiv on Sunday. State Secretary Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will be in Ukraine's capital, according to Zelenskyy. Another global leader, UN Secretary-General António Guterres, will meet the Ukrainian president on Thursday.

Six people were killed in Odesa when Russian cruise missiles struck an apartment building, according to Ukrainian officials. A 3-month-old child was among the six killed. The city's mayor criticized Russia for the attack, noting it took place on the eve of Orthodox Easter.

Become a KPBS sponsor

Satellite images show what appears to be a second mass grave site near Mariupol. The graves sit in a cemetery in the town of Vynohradne, a site that includes several parallel trenches measuring 131 feet each, according to satellite imagery provider Maxar Technologies. The photos follow the discovery of a myriad of freshly dug mass graves in the town of Manhush, just 12 miles west of Mariupol.

An EU trade official told NPR that the economic impact of defending Ukraine against Russia's aggression is a price worth paying. European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said American and European aid to Ukraine — financial, military and humanitarian — was making a difference on the ground. "I very much expect that this solidarity is here to stay because the Western democratic world was able to react in a coordinated and forceful way," he said.

In-depth

Orthodox Easter will be very different this year for thousands of Ukrainian refugees.

Another Ukrainian port city — Mykolaiv — is preparing for a siege.

Become a KPBS sponsor

Earlier developments

You can read more daily recaps here. For context and more in-depth stories, you can find NPR's full coverage here. Also, listen and subscribe to NPR's State of Ukraine podcast for updates throughout the day.