A Russian missile strike has killed eight people and wounded 18 others in Ukraine's Black Sea city of Odesa on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said. Read our live blog below to see how the day's events unfolded. All times in Paris time (GMT+2).

10:22pm: Six civilians killed in Russian strikes in Ukraine's Lugansk region

Six civilians died Saturday in Russian shelling in the village of Girske in Ukraine's Lugansk region, its governor said.

"The village of Girske suffered heavy Russian shelling the entire day," Sergiy Gayday said on Telegram. "Six inhabitants of the village died."

9:36pm: Ukraine seeks heavy weapons from US at Kyiv talks, Zelenskiy says

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine hoped to secure heavy weapons at talks with the U.S. secretaries of state and defence in Kyiv on Sunday, supplies that he said were vital for Ukraine to eventually retake Russian-occupied territory.

The Ukrainian leader warned that Kyiv would quit talks with Moscow if Russia destroyed "our people" surrounded in the war-torn city of Mariupol or staged referendums to create more breakaway republics on newly-occupied Ukrainian soil.

At one point in an emotional news conference, he said that he thought Russia could use a nuclear weapon, but that he did not want to believe that Moscow would.

8:59pm: Zelensky says eight people killed in missile strike on Odesa

A Russian missile strike has killed eight people and wounded 18 others in Ukraine's Black Sea city of Odesa on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, updating an earlier death toll by officials.

"The war started when this baby was one month old. Can you imagine what is happening?" Zelensky said. "They are just bastards. ... I don't have any other words for it, just bastards."

8:53pm: Zelensky denounces UN chief's plan to visit Moscow before Kyiv

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday criticised a decision by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to visit Moscow on Tuesday, before heading to Kyiv.

"It is simply wrong to go first to Russia and then to Ukraine," Zelensky told reporters in the Ukraine capital. "There is no justice and no logic in this order," he added.

7:46pm: Ukraine not ready to try break Russia's siege of Mariupol, Zelenskiy says

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that Ukraine's army was not ready to try to break through Russia's siege of Mariupol by force, but that Kyiv had every right to try and do so.

He told a news conference in Kyiv that it was vital that he meet Russian President Vladimir Putin for talks if Ukraine planned to resolve the war through diplomacy.

7:43pm: Blinken to visit Kyiv on Sunday, Zelensky says

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Kyiv Sunday, the day the Russian invasion of Ukraine enters its third month, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

"Tomorrow, the American officials are coming to visit us; I will meet the Defense Secretary (Lloyd Austin) and Antony Blinken," he told reporters Saturday.

It will be the first official visit by US government officials since the February 24 invasion.

7:24pm: Kyiv to quit talks if its soldiers killed in Mariupol, Zelensky says

Kyiv will pull out of talks with Moscow if Ukrainian soldiers holed up at a vast steel works in Mariupol are killed by Russian troops, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday.

"If our men are killed in Mariupol and if these pseudo-referendums are organised in the (southern) region of Kherson, then Ukraine will withdraw from any negotiation process," Zelensky told a news conference in Kyiv.

7:24pm: Zelensky calls for meeting with Putin 'to end the war'

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday called again for a meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in an effort to "put an end to the war".

"I think that whoever started this war will be able to end it," he told a news conference at a metro station in the heart of the Ukrainian capital, adding that he was "not afraid to meet" Putin if it would lead to a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.

7:14pm: Turkey closes airspace to Russian planes flying to Syria

Turkey has closed its airspace to Russian civilian and military planes flying to Syria, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was quoted as saying Saturday by local media.

"We closed the airspace to Russia's military planes -- and even civilian ones -- flying to Syria. They had until April, and we asked in March," Turkish media quoted Cavusoglu as saying.

7pm: Russia says it destroyed Odesa terminal where foreign weapons were stored

Russia used high precision missiles on Saturday to destroy a logistics terminal in Odesa where a large number of weapons supplied by the United States and European nations were being stored, the defence ministry said.

In an online post, it also said Russian forces had on Saturday killed up to 200 Ukrainian troops and destroyed more than 30 vehicles, some of them armoured.

6:50pm: Ukraine shells crossing point in Russia, governor of Russian region says

The governor of a Russian border region said on Saturday that Ukraine had shelled a crossing point on Russia's territory, causing a fire but no casualties.

An office of the Russian agriculture watchdog, Rosselkhoznadzor, caught fire after shelling, the governor of the Kursk region, Roman Starovoit, said on his Telegram account.

It was not immediately possible to confirm details of the incident or determine who was responsible.

6:49pm: UK confirms supply of vehicles, drones and anti-tank weapons to Ukraine

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Saturday to confirm Britain will supply fresh weaponry to support Ukraine's defence against Russia's invasion.

"The Prime Minister confirmed that the UK is providing more defensive military aid, including protected mobility vehicles, drones and anti-tank weapons," a readout of the call published by Johnson's office said.

5:37pm: Mariupol evacuation 'thwarted' by Russian forces, city official says

An attempted Ukrainian evacuation of civilians from the shattered city of Mariupol, where many remain trapped, was "thwarted" by Russian forces on Saturday, a city official said.

"The evacuation was thwarted," Mariupol city official Petro Andryushchenko said on Telegram, adding that around 200 residents had gathered at the evacuation meeting point announced by Kyiv, but Russian forces "dispersed" them. He claimed others were told to board buses headed to places controlled by Russia.

5:05pm: Zelensky has discussed 'new phase' of military aid with UK's Johnson

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has spoken with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson about a "new phase" of military aid, including the provision of heavy weapons, the president's deputy chief of staff Andriy Sybiga said on Saturday.

Speaking on national television, Sybiga said the pair also talked about further financial support for Ukraine on the call.

4:35pm: Five dead in Russian strike on Odesa, Ukrainian presidency says

A Russian strike killed at least five people, including a baby, and wounded 18 others in Ukraine's Black Sea city of Odesa on Saturday, Kyiv said, warning the toll would likely rise.

"Five Ukrainians killed and 18 wounded. And those are only the ones that we were able to find. It is likely that the death toll will be heavy," the head of Ukraine's presidential office Andriy Yermak said on Telegram. "A three-month-old baby was among those killed."

"At least four missiles came heading for Odesa earlier on Saturday afternoon," FRANCE 24's Luke Shrago reported from the Ukrainian port city. "We were out filming an interview when we heard this roaring overhead with an amazing amount of gunfire obviously trying to intercept [the missiles]. At least one of them is thought to have been shot down."

4:30pm: EU says pay for Russian gas in euros to avoid breaching sanctions

EU companies may be able to work around Russia's demand to receive gas payments in roubles without breaching sanctions if they pay in euros or dollars which are then converted into the Russian currency, the European Commission said on Friday.

The companies would also need to seek additional conditions on the transactions, such as a statement that they consider their contractual obligations complete once they have deposited the non-Russian currencies.

Moscow has warned Europe it risks having gas supplies cut unless it pays in roubles. In March it issued a decree proposing that energy buyers open accounts at Gazprombank to make payments in euros or dollars, which would then be converted to roubles.

2:59pm: Nearly 5.2 million Ukrainians have fled war, UN says

The number of Ukrainians who have fled the country since Russia's invasion is approaching 5.2 million, the UN refugee agency said Saturday.

The total 5,163,686 figure is an increase of 29,939 over Thursday's data, UNHCR said.

Some 1,128,000 Ukrainians have left during April so far, compared with 3.4 million for the whole of March.

Women and children account for 90 percent of those who fled abroad, with men aged 18 to 60 eligible for military call-up unable to leave.

2:47pm: Artillery strike kills two civilians in Ukraine's Luhansk region, governor says

An artillery strike on the front line town of Zolote in Ukraine's eastern Luhansk region killed two civilians on Saturday and wounded two others, Governor Serhiy Haidai said in an online post.

2:19pm: Missile strikes infrastructure in port city Odesa

A missile struck infrastructure in the Ukrainian port city of Odesa on Saturday, the local authorities said in an online statement without giving further details.

"Odesa was hit by a missile strike. Infrastructure has been hit," the statement said.

2:15pm: Russian Patriarch prays for quick end to Ukraine conflict but avoids criticising it

The leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, whose backing for Moscow's "special military operation" in Ukraine has dismayed many fellow Christians, said on Saturday he hoped it would end quickly but again did not condemn it.

At an outdoor service at Moscow's Christ the Saviour Cathedral on the eve of Orthodox Easter, Patriarch Kirill splashed holy water onto loaves of colourfully decorated Easter bread known as kulichi and said many of them would be sent to the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.

"God grant that this Easter gift helps those who are involved in this difficult conflict to calm their hearts, minds, souls, so that internecine strife ends as soon as possible and the long-awaited peace reigns, and with it the piety of people and faith may be strengthened," he said.

Patriarch Kirill, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has previously made statements backing Moscow's military intervention in Ukraine, a position that has splintered the worldwide Orthodox Church.

1:20pm: Russian offensive resumes at Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol, Ukraine official says

Russian forces have resumed airstrikes on the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, where Ukraine's remaining troops in the city are holding out, Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych has said.

Arestovych said also that Russian forces are attempting to storm Azovstal.

"The enemy is trying to strangle the final resistance of the defenders of Mariupol in the Azovstal area," Arestovych said in a video posted to Telegram.

Russia, however, has not confirmed the attacks. President Vladimir Putin had on Thursday called off the military siege against the Azovstal plant and ordered his troops to seal off the site.

Ukrainian officials have estimated that about 2,000 of their troops are inside the plant along with 1,000 civilians sheltering in the facility's underground tunnels.

12:50pm: Eastern region of Luhansk under heavy Russian bombardment, region's governor says

All the Ukrainian-controlled cities in the eastern region of Luhansk were constantly being shelled by Russian forces on Saturday and the barrage was intensifying, the region's governor Serhiy Haidai said on television.

He said Ukrainian forces were leaving some settlements there in order to regroup, but that the move did not amount to a critical setback. Russia denies targeting civilian areas.

12:40pm: Russia claims it struck down Ukrainian jet and helicopters

Russia's defence ministry said on Saturday that its forces had shot down a Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jet and destroyed three MI-8 helicopters at an airfield inUkraine's Kharkiv region.

There was no immediate reaction from Ukraine regarding the Russian claims.

9:40am: Ukraine says will try to evacuate Mariupol civilians from midday

Ukraine will make a new attempt to evacuate civilians from Mariupol, the heavily destroyed city largely controlled by Russian forces, at midday on Saturday, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.

"Today we will again try to evacuate women, children and the elderly," Vereshchuk said on Telegram, calling for people to gather on the motorway close to the Port City shopping centre in the city. "If everything happens as planned, we will start the evacuation around noon."

9:02am: Russian forces making small territorial gains in eastern Ukraine

A large part of Donetsk is now occupied by Russian forces, whose main operations consist in artillery bombardments and in firing on Ukrainian settlements and military positions. Gulliver Cragg, FRANCE 24's correspondent in Kyiv, Ukraine reports.

9:01am: Odessa would be a major prize for Russia's aims in the ongoing war

A symbol of old imperial Russia, Odessa is still under threat of Russian invasion. Both the Kherson and (part of) the Mykolaiv regions have been occupied, leaving Odessa next in line if Mykolaiv falls. FRANCE 24's correspondent in Odessa, Luke Schrago has more details below.

7:22am: Zelensky warns Russia is eyeing other countries after Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Russia's invasion of his country was just the beginning and that Moscow has designs on capturing other countries, after a Russian general said it wants full control over southern Ukraine.

"All the nations that, like us, believe in the victory of life over death must fight with us. They must help us, because we are the first in line. And who will come next?" Zelensky said in a video address late on Friday.

Rustam Minnekayev, deputy commander of Russia's central military district, was quoted by Russian state news agencies as saying full control over southern Ukraine would give it access to Transnistria, a breakaway Russian-occupied part of Moldova in the west.

That would cut off Ukraine's entire coastline and mean Russian forces pushing hundreds of miles further west, past the major Ukrainian coastal cities of Mykolaiv and Odesa.

(FRANCE 24 with AP, AFP and REUTERS)

Originally published on France24