Deadly Russian rocket hits Ukraine's Donetsk as rivals mark Orthodox Easter

A Russian rocket strike on Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region has killed two people and a drone attack on the northeastern city of Kharkiv injured at least six, officials have said.

"In Pokrovsk, rocket attacks killed two people and damaged a house," Vadim Filashkin, Ukraine's governor of the eastern Donetsk region, said in a post on Telegram on Sunday.

Pokrovsk is around 60 kilometres (35 miles) northwest of Donetsk city, the Russian-held capital of the region which Moscow claims to have annexed.

The overnight attacks came as Orthodox Christians in Ukraine and Russia celebrated Easter.

Ukraine's air force said Russia fired 24 Iranian-style "Shahed" drones at its territory overnight, 23 of which were shot down.

"A house and outbuildings were burned down as a result of 'Shahed' attacks. Six people were injured, among them a girl born in 2015," said Kharkiv Governor Oleg Synegubov on Telegram.

'Life will definitely defeat death'

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy published a video message on Sunday from Kiev's Saint Sophia Cathedral in the centre of the capital.

Wearing a traditional Ukrainian vyshyvanka shirt, instead of his typical army-style clothes, he said:

"We believe that God has a chevron with the Ukrainian flag on his shoulder. Therefore, with such an ally, life will definitely defeat death."

An exhibition at the cathedral features religion icons painted on ammunition boxes.

In Russia, President Vladimir Putin did not explicitly mention the war in his Easter message.

In a public address to Patriarch Kirill Putin thanked him for "fruitful cooperation in the current difficult period, when it is so important for us to unite our efforts for the steady development and strengthening of the Fatherland."