Hopes for a weekend truce in Ukraine to celebrate the Orthodox Easter faded with talks between Moscow and Kyiv stalled as Russia said it aimed to take full control over the east and south of its neighbour.
The war enters its third month on Sunday but a senior Russian military officer said "the second phase of the special operation" - as Moscow terms its invasion of Ukraine - had just begun.
"One of the tasks of the Russian army is to establish full control over the Donbas and southern Ukraine," Major General Rustam Minnekaev said on Friday.
Russian forces, which withdrew from around Kyiv and the north of Ukraine after being frustrated in their attempts to take over the capital, already occupy much of the eastern Donbas region and the south.
Minnekaev said their focus was now to "provide a land corridor to Crimea," which Russia annexed in 2014, and towards a breakaway pro-Russian region of Moldova, Transnistria, where the general claimed Russian-speaking people were "being oppressed".
Ukrainian authorities have vowed to fight on and drive the Russian troops from their land, but they also sought an Easter pause.
The New Arab is providing live updates of what's been happening on the ground and additional analysis on the conflict's significance.
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Main story: The New Arab Staff & Agencies
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