{"id":40963,"date":"2025-04-22T11:36:10","date_gmt":"2025-04-22T11:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/40963\/"},"modified":"2025-04-22T11:36:10","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T11:36:10","slug":"russian-drones-batter-ukraines-odesa-as-peace-talks-come-to-a-crux-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/40963\/","title":{"rendered":"Russian drones batter Ukraine\u2019s Odesa as peace talks come to a crux \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Russian drones battered the Ukrainian port city of Odesa in a nighttime attack, local authorities said on Tuesday, less than 24 hours after a purported Easter ceasefire unilaterally declared by Moscow ended.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The attacks also came just over a day before Ukrainian, British, French and US officials are due to meet in London to discuss the war, with anticipation building over whether diplomatic efforts can stop more than three years of fighting since Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of its neighbour.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">US President Donald Trump said last week that negotiations were \u201ccoming to a head\u201d and insisted that neither side was \u201cplaying\u201d him in his push to end the grinding war.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"US President Donald Trump said negotiations were &#x2018;coming to a head&#x2019; (Alex Brandon\/AP)\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/XV6QAEWXEJNRTILSMDDJVVPYPQ.jpg\"  width=\"800\" height=\"534\"\/>US President Donald Trump said negotiations were \u2018coming to a head\u2019 (Alex Brandon\/AP) (Alex Brandon\/AP) <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">This came after Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested last week that the US might soon back away from negotiations altogether if they did not progress.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"c-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishnews.com\/news\/world\/pope-franciss-funeral-and-nine-day-mourning-period-will-break-from-tradition-and-pontiff-wont-be-buried-under-st-peters-basilica-in-the-vatican-IKVN7ZLNR5HINCSU7WBRBYGE5Q\/\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"Pope Francis&#x2019;s funeral and nine-day mourning period will break from tradition and pontiff won&#x2019;t be buried under St Peter&#x2019;s Basilica in the Vatican\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/CPKQJFUDWVNVROCY7SMOA5HZXQ.jpg\"  width=\"800\" height=\"450\"\/><\/a><a class=\"c-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishnews.com\/news\/world\/who-is-cardinal-pietro-parolin-vatican-diplomat-who-is-frontrunner-to-succeed-pope-francis-4UWTQ5EX4JD3ZCTJKXL7GDBAGM\/\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"Who is Cardinal Pietro Parolin? Vatican diplomat who is frontrunner to succeed Pope Francis\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/JL4UHVVYZJJ47MUFQWAHQLSSQY.jpg\"  width=\"800\" height=\"450\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">He spoke in Paris after talks among US, Ukrainian and European officials produced outlines for steps toward peace and appeared to make some long-awaited progress.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">A new meeting is expected on Wednesday in London, and Mr Rubio suggested it could be decisive in determining whether the Trump administration continues its involvement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Odesa came under a \u201cmassive attack\u201d by Russian drones overnight, injuring at least three people, the head of Odesa regional administration, Oleh Kiper, wrote on his Telegram page on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"525\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Now, after Easter, the whole world can clearly see the real issue \u2014 the real reason why the hostilities continue. Russia is the source of this war. It is from Moscow that a real order must come for the Russian army to cease fire. And if there is no such firm Russian order for\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/jS9cTiRQqd\">pic.twitter.com\/jS9cTiRQqd<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Volodymyr Zelenskyy \/ \u0412\u043e\u043b\u043e\u0434\u0438\u043c\u0438\u0440 \u0417\u0435\u043b\u0435\u043d\u0441\u044c\u043a\u0438\u0439 (@ZelenskyyUa) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ZelenskyyUa\/status\/1914402951084322862?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">April 21, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">A residential building in a densely populated urban area, civilian infrastructure and an educational facility were hit, he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The Ukrainian air force said Russia fired 54 Shahed and decoy drones at Ukraine overnight, marking a resumption of long-range attacks that have blasted civilian areas and sown terror throughout the war.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Russia has stepped up its use of Shahed drones in the past months, expanding its production of the weapon and refining its tactics, the International Institute for Strategic Studies said in a recently published analysis.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">After Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a unilateral ceasefire on Saturday, Ukraine said it was ready to reciprocate but said Russian attacks were continuing.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a unilateral ceasefire on Saturday (Sofia Sandurskaya, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/ZZRDZ2OEIBPL3LHSLIAN3EETBY.jpg\"  width=\"800\" height=\"533\"\/>Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a unilateral ceasefire on Saturday (Sofia Sandurskaya, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) (Sofia Sandurskaya\/AP) <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia violated the ceasefire more than 2,900 times.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The Associated Press was unable to verify whether a ceasefire was in place along the roughly 620-mile (1,000km) front line.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Russia has effectively rejected a US proposal for an immediate and full 30-day halt in the fighting by imposing far-reaching conditions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Meanwhile, both Russia and Ukraine are preparing for the spring\/summer military campaign, Ukrainian and western officials say.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Russian drones battered the Ukrainian port city of Odesa in a nighttime attack, local authorities said on Tuesday,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40964,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7654],"tags":[32,2000,299,522,2820,23238,332,657,978,333,658],"class_list":{"0":"post-40963","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ukraine","8":"tag-donald-trump","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-international","12":"tag-marco-rubio","13":"tag-odesa","14":"tag-russia","15":"tag-ukraine","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-vladimir-putin","18":"tag-volodymyr-zelensky"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114381415031491659","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}