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“We’ve started to value everything a little differently, you value every day differently because you understand that you could lose this,” said Darya Barabash, who was expecting a baby girl.

Long queues formed outside the cathedral as worshippers carrying baskets of ornately painted Easter eggs and paska, a traditional Ukrainian Easter bread, waited to receive blessings from a priest.

In the north-east Kharkiv region, where shelling has intensified in recent weeks, an army chaplain conducted a service for soldiers on the frontlines, splashing them with holy water and taking confessions.

For a few hours in the morning, Ukrainian television took a break from war coverage of death and destruction, airing emotional scenes of people praying, priests intoning and the churches that dot the country.

By mid-morning the governor of the eastern Donetsk region that is targeted by a new Russian offensive said that two children aged 5 and 14 had been killed in shelling.

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Serhiy Gaidai, governor of the eastern Luhansk region, said that seven churches there have been destroyed during the war.

While churches used to be full for overnight and morning Easter services, this year churches have been asked not to gather many people, with concerns they could be targets for missiles.

“Our nation has always been united. And today we are showing that it is impossible to scare us,” said Mikhail, a worshipper in army uniform.

“Even though many were saying there would be provocations at churches, God protects us, our faith protects us and Christ is risen, truly he is risen.”

Reuters, AP

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