Russian drone attacks hit Ukraine as munitions depot burns in Russia

Moscow [Russia], April 23: Russia launched a large-scale drone attack on the Ukrainian port city of Odessa overnight, according to local officials.
Three people were injured in the attack, the region's governor, Oleh Kiper, wrote on Telegram on Tuesday morning.
Civilian infrastructure, residential buildings, an educational institution and vehicles were damaged, he said. The Ukrainian civil defence service published photos of firefighting operations.
East of Moscow, a fire in an ammunition depot belonging to the missile and artillery forces caused several explosions.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defence, the cause of the fire was a violation of safety regulations when handling explosive materials, news agencies in Moscow reported. There were no initial reports of people injured.
The ammunition depot is one of the largest depots of the Russian armed forces. It is more than 500 kilometres from the border with Ukraine.
Elsewhere, Governor Ivan Fedorov said a 69-year-old woman was killed in a Russian attack in the early on Tuesday with two guided glide bombs on the city of Zaporizhzhya in southern Ukraine. At least 22 other people were injured.
An attack in the Kiev region meanwhile damaged six private homes and other buildings in the Kiev region, officials said.
The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia attacked during the night with 54 drones, and of these, 38 were shot down. Sixteen drone dummies went off course, mostly due to electronic countermeasures, it said.
Ukraine has been defending itself against Russia's full-scale invasion for more than three years. Russia has in that time seized and unilaterally annexed four eastern territories, in addition to the Crimean peninsula which it has controlled since 2014.
The Kremlin says Kiev must take responsibility for bringing about negotiations on a limited ceasefire.
"If the Ukrainian side is open [to negotiations] and wants them, then it should take some steps to remove the obstacles to such contacts," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.
Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had renewed his proposal that both sides refrain from attacks on civilian targets.
However, he demanded a clear response from Moscow.
On Easter Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin had signalled that he was willing to discuss the issue.
However, he said that it was first necessary to clarify exactly which objects were considered civilian. This could be clarified in bilateral talks between Moscow and Kiev, he said.
Peskov announced that there had been no response to this proposal so far. There are currently no concrete plans for a bilateral meeting.
Putin has recently emphasized his alleged willingness to negotiate on several occasions. However, the Kremlin always points out that Zelensky himself has forbidden talks with him.
This refers to a decree issued by the Ukrainian head of state in September 2022 after Russia annexed the four partially occupied regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhya and Kherson.
The wording of the decree does not actually prohibit negotiations with Putin, but declares them impossible in view of the prevailing situation. Zelensky later said, however, that he was willing to negotiate with Putin if it would bring peace and save the lives of Ukrainians.
According to Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov, US President Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, is expected in Moscow later this week. He did not specify an exact date.
Source: Qatar Tribune