Russian forces launched a large-scale overnight drone strike on residential areas in Ukraine’s Black Sea port city of Odesa, sparking fires and damaging numerous apartments, local officials reported on Tuesday.
“The enemy targeted a residential area in a densely populated district of Odesa,” Mayor Hennadiy Trukhanov wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
He posted pictures of a fire blazing out of control and apartment buildings with windows smashed and facades damaged.
Regional Governor Oleh Kiper said the attack damaged dwellings, civilian infrastructure, an educational institution and vehicles.
Emergency crews had been dispatched to the affected areas and information on casualties was being clarified, Kiper said.
Odesa, with its three ports, has been a frequent target of Russian attacks in the more than three-year-old conflict with Russia.
The development came just hours after Russia and Ukraine accused each other of thousands of attacks that violated the one-day Easter ceasefire declared by President Vladimir Putin, with the Kremlin saying there was no order to extend the pause in frontline fighting.
Putin’s Peace Proposal
Meanwhile, Putin proposed on Monday bilateral talks with Ukraine for the first time since the early days of the war, and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv was eager to discuss a halt to attacks on civilian targets.
While Zelenskyy did not respond directly to Putin’s proposal, he emphasized in his nightly video address that Ukraine “was ready for any conversation” about a ceasefire that would stop strikes on civilians.
U.S. Pressure
The two leaders face pressure from the United States, which has threatened to walk away from its peace efforts unless some progress is achieved.
Russia and Ukraine have said they are open to further ceasefires after a 30-hour Easter truce declared by Moscow at the weekend. Each side accused the other of violating it.
Ukraine will take part in talks with the U.S. and European countries on Wednesday in London, Zelenskiy said. The discussions are a follow-up to a Paris meeting last week where the U.S. and European states discussed ways to end the more than three-year-old war.
Putin, speaking to a Russian state TV reporter, said fighting had resumed after the Easter ceasefire, which he announced unilaterally on Saturday. And Moscow, he said, was open to any peace initiatives and expected the same from Kyiv.
(With inputs from Reuters)
