Shaun
At least seven people have been injured after Russia launched a missile attack on the historic centre of Ukraine’s Black Sea port city Odesa, seriously damaging the Unesco World Heritage Site. President Volodymyr Zelensky said Norwegian diplomats had been among those “who were in the epicentre of the strike” and that the attack underscored the need to strengthen Ukraine’s air defences.
Vladimir Putin’s forces had aimed the attack “directly on the city, on ordinary civilian buildings”, he said. Meanwhile, US president Donald Trump said that his administration was in a “very serious” discussion with Russia about the Ukraine war and suggested he and Mr Putin could take “significant” action towards ending it soon.
“We will be speaking, and I think will perhaps do something that’ll be significant,” he said. However, when asked if he spoke directly with his Russian counterpart, Mr Trump said: “I don’t want to say that.” Earlier, Ukraine’s military said it had destroyed a Russian command post in the border region of Kursk.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Norwegian diplomats had been among those “who were in the epicentre of the strike” in Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa. Online pictures posted by regional governor Oleh Kiper and by Odesa mayor Hennady Trukhanov showed the lobby and other parts of the Hotel Bristol, a luxury landmark built at the end of the 19th century, reduced to rubble.
The Odesa Philharmonic concert hall, opposite the hotel, suffered damage with many of its windows smashed. Online video showed fragments strewn on a street several hundred metres (yards) away near the opulent opera house from the same era.
President Donald Trump on Friday said his administration has already had “very serious” discussions with Russia about its war in Ukraine and that he and Russian president Vladimir Putin could soon take “significant” action toward ending the grinding conflict.
“We will be speaking, and I think will perhaps do something that’ll be significant,” Mr Trump said in an exchange with reporters in the Oval Office.
“We want to end that war. That war would have not started if I was president.” Mr Trump did not say who from his administration has been in contact with the Russians but insisted the two sides were “already talking”. Asked if he has already spoken directly with Mr Putin, Mr Trump was coy: “I don’t want to say that.”
Mr Trump has said repeatedly he wouldn’t have allowed the conflict to start if he had been in office, even though he was president as fighting grew in eastern Ukraine between Kyiv’s forces and separatists backed by Moscow, ahead of Mr Putin sending in tens of thousands of troops in 2022.
Mr Trump since returning to office has criticized Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, saying he should have made a deal with Mr Putin to avoid the conflict. President Volodymyr Zelensky said the attack was “a deliberate strike” that underscored again the need to strengthen Ukraine’s air defences.
He said Norwegian diplomats had been among those “who were in the epicentre of the strike” in the historic district. Mr Zelensky, speaking in his nightly video address, said the attack was staged “directly on the city, on ordinary civilian buildings”. “Again and again, air defence is the top priority. We are working with all our partners to provide more protection for our country.”
Mr Zelensky said a meeting of Ukraine’s command had focused on improving weapons systems and speeding up deliveries. “We need faster deliveries and greater numbers of systems and weapons which will enable us to save the lives of more of our soldiers, our people,” he said. “More orders for drones. More investments for the development of robotic systems. And more orders for basic weapons.”
