{"id":752,"date":"2025-03-21T08:54:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-21T08:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/03\/21\/ukraine-port-city-on-fire-after-massive-russian-attack-as-trump-projects-optimism-ahead-of-peace-talks-cnn\/"},"modified":"2025-03-21T08:54:00","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T08:54:00","slug":"ukraine-port-city-on-fire-after-massive-russian-attack-as-trump-projects-optimism-ahead-of-peace-talks-cnn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/03\/21\/ukraine-port-city-on-fire-after-massive-russian-attack-as-trump-projects-optimism-ahead-of-peace-talks-cnn\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine port city \u2018on fire\u2019 after \u2018massive\u2019 Russian attack as Trump projects optimism ahead of peace talks – CNN"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Fire<\/picture> <\/div>\n
\n

<\/span> CNN<\/span> \u00a0\u2014\u00a0 <\/cite> <\/p>\n

The southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa was engulfed in flames late <\/strong>Thursday after being struck by a large-scale Russian drone attack, hours after US President Donald Trump expressed optimism about ending the war and as peace talks are set to resume on Monday. <\/p>\n

Trump \u2013 who recently held separate phone calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine\u2019s leader Volodymyr Zelensky on implementing a partial ceasefire \u2013 projected optimism about reaching an end to the war on Thursday, saying \u201cwe\u2019re doing pretty well in that regard.\u201d <\/p>\n

Delegations from Russia and the US are expected to resume talks on ending the war on Monday in Saudi Arabia, both countries\u2019 officials said, following an earlier round of talks<\/a> in February. <\/p>\n

Zelensky said a team from Ukraine will also attend, with parallel meetings likely to take place, and urged Putin to \u201cstop making unnecessary demands that only prolong the war.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI believe we\u2019ll get it done. We\u2019ll see what happens,\u201d Trump said on Thursday, referring to the talks. <\/p>\n

Hours after Trump spoke, Russia launched a \u201cmassive\u201d drone attack on Odesa, hitting civilian targets and injuring at least three people, including a minor, local officials said. <\/p>\n

A high-rise residential building and a shopping center were among the targets, local governor Oleh Kiper said. <\/p>\n

Videos shared on social media show what appears to be civilian infrastructure on fire and huge plumes of smoke rising over the city. CNN has not been able to immediately verify the videos. <\/p>\n

Czech President Peter Pavel was in the port city on an official visit at the time of the attack, Ukrainian official Dmytro Kuleba said. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Russian assaults wounded at least five others near the southern <\/strong>city of Zaporizhzhia on Thursday, local governor Ivan Fedorov said. <\/p>\n

Nearly 200 drones also hit the Kirovohrad region in central Ukraine overnight into Thursday, wounding 10 people, including four children, and damaging homes, a church, and key infrastructure, Zelensky said. <\/p>\n

\u201cRussian strikes on Ukraine do not stop, despite their propaganda claims. Every day and every night, nearly a hundred or more drones are launched, along with ongoing missile attacks. With each such launch, the Russians expose to the world their true attitude towards peace,\u201d Zelensky said Thursday on X. <\/p>\n

\"A<\/picture> <\/div>\n

Ukraine and Russia have exchanged aerial assaults<\/a> in the days since the Kremlin agreed to temporarily halt attacks on energy infrastructure targets, but stopped short of signing off on a broader ceasefire sought by the US. <\/p>\n

Overnight into Thursday, Ukraine struck a military airfield deep inside Russian territory, sparking a huge explosion and destroying nearby houses, Russian and Ukrainian officials said. <\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s military confirmed it was behind the attack on Engels airbase – more than 465 miles from the Ukrainian border – saying it targeted the airbase because it is used by Russia\u2019s air force \u201cto launch missile strikes on the territory of Ukraine and terrorist attacks against the civilian population.\u201d <\/p>\n

Zelensky on Wednesday accused Putin of already breaking his pledge, saying that Russia attacked Ukraine with 150 drones, including strikes on energy facilities. <\/p>\n

Zelensky has said he is \u201cready\u201d to pause attacks on Russia\u2019s energy and civilian infrastructure, saying his team will prepare a list of civilian targets to be included in a future deal. <\/p>\n

Ukraine \u201cunconditionally agrees\u201d to a ceasefire, but is \u201cwaiting for the aggressor to agree,\u201d Zelensky said <\/strong>Thursday while speaking at a press conference in Norway. <\/p>\n

Putin announced the halt on energy infrastructure attacks on Tuesday after a lengthy call with Trump. \u201cVladimir Putin responded positively to this initiative and immediately gave the Russian military the corresponding order,\u201d a Kremlin readout said. <\/p>\n

As part of its demands for a broader ceasefire, the Kremlin laid out several tough conditions that Putin had previously insisted on \u2013 such as a halt to all foreign military aid and intelligence to Kyiv, and a halt to any Ukrainian mobilization or rearming during that period. <\/p>\n

Zelensky spoke to European leaders on Thursday as they reaffirmed their support for Ukraine, calling on other Western leaders to match words of support for Kyiv with deeds, as Trump escalates his courting of Russia. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe stronger they are on the battlefield, the stronger they are behind the negotiation table,\u201d the European Union\u2019s top diplomat Kaja Kallas said of the Ukrainians, according to Reuters. <\/p>\n

The meetings in Saudi Arabia\u2019s capital Riyadh on Monday are designed<\/a> for US and Russian officials to hammer out more specific language on the deal<\/a> reached by Trump and Putin, as well as other areas of negotiation toward a full ceasefire. The talks won\u2019t involve Cabinet-level US officials, the State Department said Wednesday. <\/p>\n

This story has been updated with additional information.<\/em> <\/p>\n

CNN\u2019s Mariya Knight, Kit Maher, Olivia Kemp, Alayna Treene, Christian Edwards, Clare Sebastian, Svitlana Vlasova and Anna Chernova contributed to this report. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CNN \u00a0\u2014\u00a0 The southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa was engulfed in flames late Thursday after being struck by a large-scale Russian drone attack, hours after US President Donald Trump expressed optimism about ending the war and as peace talks are set to resume on Monday. Trump \u2013 who recently held separate phone calls with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}