Saturday morning, plane alarms went off in several Ukrainian cities. This is all that has happened the night until Saturday.

On Saturday morning, plane alarms sounded in a number of cities in western Ukraine and in the capital Kyiv.

Alarms went off in Lviv in the west, Rivne and Volyn in the northwest, Ivano-Frankivsk in the southwest, and in Khmelnytskyj, Vinnytsia and Zhytomyr, which are west of the capital, reports Guard.

So far there have been no reports of attacks.

Also on the night before Good Friday, plane alarms were reported across Ukraine, and then powerful explosions in several places.

Russia announced the same day that it would step up air strikes in response to alleged Ukrainian attacks on Russian border villages, AFP reports.

Want Russia on terror list

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has asked President Joe Biden to name Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism.

This is one of the most powerful and far-reaching sanctions on America’s toolbox, writes Washington Post.

The call, which has not been previously mentioned, came in a recent phone conversation between the presidents, alerting people with knowledge of the case. The problem is not as severe as calls for arms shipments and financial aid, but was proposed as part of an international outcry against Russia.

Biden did nothing in the conversation, according to the newspaper’s sources, but said he was open to considering any suggestions.

The United States has not previously denied that Russia could be added to the list of countries funding terrorism, reports CNN. On that list today are North Korea, Syria, Cuba, and Iran.

Several thousand Ukrainian soldiers have been killed

Zelensky said the country’s authorities believed that between 2,500 and 3,000 Ukrainian soldiers had died so far in the war.

In a longer interview with channel CNN Zelenskyj said that about 10,000 more soldiers were injured and it was difficult to know how many of them survived.

– We all want to fight, but we all have to do our best so that this war doesn’t last forever. The longer it lasts, the more we lose, Zelenskyj said.

A Russian census has published showings between 19,000 and 20,000 soldiers died on the Ukrainian side. How many Russian soldiers died is not known. Western countries estimate several thousand, while Moscow recently reported 1,350 soldiers killed.

In the same interview, he said that the world should prepare Russia’s Vladimir Putin to be able to use nuclear weapons.

Discussed Mariupol

Zelensky said he had discussed the fate of the besieged port city of Mariupol with the country’s intelligence and military leaders.

“Details cannot be announced right now, but we are doing everything we can to save our people,” Zelensky said in a speech to the nation Saturday night.

Elsewhere in southern Ukraine, such as in the occupied territories of Kherson and Zaporizhia, the Russian army terrorized the civilian population, looking for anyone affiliated with the army or government.

– The invaders believed this would make it easier for them to control this territory. But they were wrong. They are only fooling themselves, the president said.

– Their problem is not that they are not accepted by activists, veterans and journalists. Russia’s problem is that it is not accepted, and never will be, by all Ukrainians. Russia has lost Ukraine forever, he added.

Zelensky said in the same speech that it is difficult to predict how long the war will last.

UN wants access to starving Ukraine

The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) is calling for immediate access to Ukraine held captive because of the war. The reason was that the people in the besieged area were starving.

Since the war began, WFP has provided aid to 1.4 million in Ukraine, but the organization needs safe corridors to deliver food to 2.3 million this month, reports BBC.

The WFP has been denied entry to the port city of Mariupol, where Russia is accused of forcing its 300,000 residents to surrender by starving them to death. The UN was also not allowed into the bombed town of Mykolajiv, east of Odesa.

More than seven million people have been displaced by the war, and food supplies have collapsed in many areas, according to WFP.

Nearly 1.5 million people do not have access to running water, and more than 4.5 million may lose their water supply due to damage to pipelines and power lines, said Ukrainian human rights representative Ljudmyla Denisova.

Giving billions of support

On Friday, the German government decided to provide more than 1 billion euros, equivalent to 9.5 billion kroner, in military aid to Ukraine.

In total, Germany has decided to increase funding for international military assistance by 2 billion euros, and “the largest part is planned as military aid to Ukraine”, a government spokesman said.

– Funds will greatly benefit Ukraine, stressed Finance Minister Christian Lindner Indonesia.

The money is included in the supplementary budget for the current year and will primarily allow Ukraine to purchase military equipment.

The decision came at a time when Germany was criticized for not doing enough to support Ukraine militarily. Criticism has come from Ukraine itself and Poland and the Baltic states.

German Prime Minister Olaf Scholz has also been criticized at home for refusing to send heavier weapons to Ukraine. He also said that he had no plans to visit Kyiv in the near future.

Scholz was invited after President Frank-Walter Steinmeier was denied entry. Steinmeier has acknowledged his overly friendly attitude to Russia during his tenure as Germany’s foreign minister.