This week Irish Times journalist Daniel McLaughlin travelled to Odesa, a seaside city he says has been “much changed by Russia’s invasion”.
Instead of people on the beaches there are mines and instead of tourists from across Ukraine and Russia there are soldiers and locals whose resolve has been strengthened by months of conflict.
It is, McLaughlin says, just one example of how a country he knows intimately has been changed by war.
As well as visiting Odesa, he returns to Kyiv. The last time he was in the city Russian forces were advancing and it was under heavy bombardment.
Things are, if not exactly normal, calm. Air raid sirens go off frequently but when they do – more often than not – people simply go about their day to day business.
However, it is a different story in the Donbass where fighting has intensified in recent weeks.
In the latest In The News Podcast McLaughlin gives an overview of the state of the war in Ukraine and looks forward to May 9th – an important date in the Russian calendar – to assess what Vladimir Putin’s next move might be.
