KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The death toll rose to 10 on Sunday from a Russian drone strike that destroyed an apartment block in Ukraine’s southern port city of Odesa the previous day when a local official reported that the body of a third child was pulled from the rubble, along with that of the child’s mother.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Western allies to boost Ukraine’s air defenses in the wake of the deadly attack.
Ukraine’s interior ministry on Sunday reported that rescue workers that morning retrieved the remains of a woman and infant.
“The mother tried to cover the 8-month-old child with her own (body). She tried to save them. They were found in a firm embrace,” said a Telegram post published on the ministry’s official channel.
On Saturday, Ukrainian authorities reported that another young baby was among those killed after falling debris from an Iranian-made drone hit the apartment building — one of eight Russian drones reported by officials. Later that day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that a second child had also died, and called on Kyiv’s Western partners to send more air defense systems.
“Tymofiy was 4 months old. Mark was about to turn 3 years old. My condolences to all of their close ones,” Zelenskyy wrote in English on X, formerly known as Twitter. He added that a 3-year-old girl and seven other people were injured in the attack.
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