Russian drones batter Ukraine's Odesa as peace talks come to a crux

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian drones battered the Ukrainian port city of Odesa in a nighttime attack, local authorities said Tuesday, less than 24 hours after a purported Easter ceasefire unilaterally declared by Moscow ended and just over a day before Ukrainian, British, French and U.S. officials are due to meet in London to discuss the war.

Anticipation is building over whether diplomatic efforts can stop more than three years of fighting since Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor. Hostility has run deep between the two sides since Russia invaded and illegally annexed Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula in 2014.

Trump said last week that negotiations were “coming to a head” and insisted that neither side is “playing” him in his push to end the grinding war.

This came after Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested last week the U.S. might soon back away from negotiations altogether if they don’t progress. He spoke in Paris after talks among U.S., Ukrainian and European officials produced outlines for steps toward peace and appeared to make some long-awaited progress.

A new meeting is expected Wednesday in London, and Rubio suggested it could be decisive in determining whether the Trump administration continues its involvement.

Odesa came under a “massive attack” by Russian drones overnight, injuring at least three people, the head of Odesa regional administration, Oleh Kiper, wrote on his Telegram page Tuesday.

A residential building in a densely populated urban area, civilian infrastructure and an educational facility were hit, he said.

Also, during daylight Tuesday, Russia hit the southern Ukraine city of Zaporizhzhia with two massive aerial glide bombs — a retrofitted Soviet weapon that for months it has used to lay waste to eastern Ukraine.

The attack killed a 69-year-old woman and injured 22 people, including three children, according to regional governor Ivan Fedorov.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there are no plans for talks on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s proposal to halt strikes on civilian facilities. He said Moscow is prepared to consider such a step but noted that reaching an agreement could take time.

“While talking about civilian infrastructure, it’s necessary to clearly define when such facilities can be a military target and when they can’t,” he said. “If a military meeting is held there, is it a civilian facility? It is. But is it a military target? Yes, it is. There are some nuances here that need to be discussed.”

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.

Russia has stepped up in the past months its use of Shahed drones, expanding its production of the weapon and refining its tactics, the International Institute for Strategic Studies said in a recently published analysis.

After Putin declared a unilateral ceasefire on Saturday, Ukraine said it was ready to reciprocate but said Russian attacks were continuing. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia violated the ceasefire more than 2,900 times.

The Associated Press was unable to verify whether a ceasefire was in place along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line.

Russia has effectively rejected a U.S. proposal for an immediate and full 30-day halt in the fighting by imposing far-reaching conditions.

Meanwhile, both Russia and Ukraine are preparing for the spring-summer military campaign, Ukrainian and Western officials say.

乌克兰基辅（美联社）——当地政府周二表示，俄罗斯无人机在夜间袭击了乌克兰港口城市敖德萨。此前不到24小时，莫斯科单方面宣布的所谓复活节停火协议刚刚结束；而就在一天多后，乌克兰、英国、法国和美国官员将在伦敦会面，讨论这场战争。

人们越来越关注外交努力能否结束俄罗斯全面入侵邻国三年多以来的冲突。自2014年俄罗斯入侵并非法吞并乌克兰克里米亚半岛以来，双方的敌对情绪一直根深蒂固。

特朗普上周表示，谈判“即将进入关键时刻”，并坚称双方都没有在他推动结束这场旷日持久的战争的过程中“利用”他。

此前，美国国务卿马可·卢比奥上周暗示，如果谈判没有进展，美国可能很快就会彻底退出谈判。他是在巴黎发表这番言论的。此前，美国、乌克兰和欧洲官员举行了会谈，会谈制定了迈向和平的步骤纲要，并似乎取得了一些期待已久的进展。

预计周三将在伦敦举行新一轮会议，卢比奥表示，这次会议可能对特朗普政府是否继续参与起到决定性作用。

敖德萨地区行政长官奥列格·基佩尔周二在其 Telegram 页面上写道，敖德萨一夜之间遭到俄罗斯无人机的“大规模袭击”，造成至少三人受伤。

他说，一栋位于人口稠密城区内的住宅楼、民用基础设施和一所教育设施遭到袭击。

此外，周二白天，俄罗斯向乌克兰南部城市扎波罗热投掷了两枚巨型空中滑翔炸弹——这是一种经过改装的苏联武器，几个月来，俄罗斯一直用它来摧毁乌克兰东部。

据地区州长伊万·费多罗夫称，袭击造成一名 69 岁妇女死亡，22 人受伤，其中包括 3 名儿童。

克里姆林宫发言人德米特里·佩斯科夫表示，目前没有就乌克兰总统泽连斯基提出的停止袭击民用设施的提议进行会谈的计划。他表示，莫斯科准备考虑采取这一步骤，但也指出达成协议可能需要时间。

他说：“在谈到民用基础设施时，必须明确界定此类设施何时可以成为军事目标，何时不能。如果在那里举行军事会议，它算是民用设施吗？是的。但它算是军事目标吗？是的，它是。这里面有一些细微差别需要讨论。”

乌克兰空军称，俄罗斯连夜向乌克兰发射了 54 架“沙赫德”无人机和诱饵无人机，标志着远程攻击的恢复，这些攻击已经摧毁了平民区，并在整个战争期间散播了恐怖。

国际战略研究所最近发​​表的一份分析报告称，俄罗斯在过去几个月里加大了“沙赫德”无人机的使用力度，扩大了该武器的生产规模，并改进了其战术。

普京周六宣布单方面停火后，乌克兰表示准备对等停火，但同时指出俄罗斯的袭击仍在继续。乌克兰总统泽连斯基称，俄罗斯违反停火协议的次数已超过2900次。

美联社无法核实这条长约 1000 公里（620 英里）的前线是否已停火。

俄罗斯实际上拒绝了美国提出的立即全面停止战斗 30 天的提议，并附加了影响深远的条件。

与此同时，乌克兰和西方官员表示，俄罗斯和乌克兰都在为春夏军事行动做准备。