RUSSIAN forces pounded targets in eastern Ukraine on Sunday as Austria's leader planned to meet President Putin and Washington pledged to give Ukraine "the weapons it needs" to counter a new Russian offensive. 


FIGHTING

* Russian forces fired rockets into Ukraine's Luhansk and Dnipro regions, Ukrainian officials said, destroying an airport and wounding at least five people.

* The death toll from an attack on a train station on Friday in Kramatorsk rose to 57, while 109 were wounded, Ukrainian officials said.

* British military intelligence said Russia was seeking to strengthen troop numbers with personnel discharged from military service since 2012.

* Explosions were heard in Ukraine's northeastern city of Kharkiv and in Mykolaiv, a city near the Black Sea, Ukrainian media reported on Sunday. 

* Ukraine's deputy prime minister said 2,824 people were evacuated on Sunday through humanitarian corridors, including 213 from Mariupol, which has been under siege for weeks.

* The head of Russia's republic of Chechnya said there would be a Russian offensive not only on Mariupol but also on Kyiv and other cities. 


FOREIGN LEADERS

* Austrian Chancellor Nehammer said he would meet Putin on Monday in Moscow, the Russian leader's first face-to-face meeting with a European Union counterpart since the invasion. 

* Ukrainian President Zelenskiy discussed possible additional sanctions on Russia in a call with German Chancellor Scholz and praised what he said was a favourable change in Germany's position towards Kyiv. 


* Finland and Sweden look poised to join NATO, The Times reported on Monday. 


PRAYERS AND PROTESTS

* Pope Francis on Sunday called for an Easter truce in Ukraine, and in an apparent reference to Russia, questioned the value of planting a victory flag "on a heap of rubble".

* The head of Russia's Orthodox Church called on people on Sunday to rally around the government.

* Around 600 pro-Russian protesters in motorcade set off on a demonstration in Hanover, Germany. There was also a counter-demonstration of around 700 people supporting Ukraine, police said.


ECONOMY AND BUSINESS

* Russia will take legal action if the West tries to force it to default on its sovereign debt, Finance Minister Siluanov told the pro-Kremlin Izvestia newspaper on Monday. 

* Ukraine's economic output will likely contract by 45.1% this year, the World Bank said on Sunday. 

* Ukraine has banned all imports from Russia and called on other countries to impose harsher economic sanctions. 

* Russian bank VTB no longer controls its European subsidiary, German regulator BaFin said.




READ MORE: Latest development on Ukraine-Russia crisis