Russian drone strike on Ukrainian port city kills 11, as China’s envoy tours Moscow

Ukrainian soldiers of 80th separate airborne assault brigade fires a D-30 cannon towards Russian positions at the front line, near Klishchiivka, Donetsk region, Ukraine. Photo / AP

The death toll rose to 11 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 the bodies of two more children and a young mother were pulled from the rubble.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Western allies to boost Ukraine’s air defences in the wake of the deadly attack.

Oleh Kiper, governor of the Odesa region, on Sunday afternoon reported that the body of a 10-year-old boy named Serhii was found amid the debris. Hours earlier, Ukraine’s interior ministry reported that rescue workers retrieved the remains of a woman clutching an 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 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, Zelenskyy said that a second child had also died.

Ukrainian Emergency Service workers clear the rubble after a Russian attack on residential neighbourhood in Odesa. Photo / AP

“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.

“Delays in the delivery of weapons to Ukraine, as well as air defence to protect our people, unfortunately, result in such losses. ... Ukraine has never requested anything more than what is necessary to protect lives,” Zelenskyy wrote.

More people may still be trapped in the rubble, the Odesa branch of Ukraine’s main emergency service said in a Facebook update Sunday. Kiper said that rescue workers continue to comb through the site, and regional authorities announced a day of mourning for the victims.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, regional authorities reported that a 58-year-old man died under rubble after Russian forces overnight shelled his village in the southern Kherson province. Another civilian man, aged 38, was killed in a Russian artillery strike on the neighbouring Zaporizhzhia region, local Gov. Ivan Fedorov said.

On Sunday afternoon, Donetsk regional Governor Vadim Filashkin reported that a Russian airstrike on the eastern town of Kurakhove wounded 16 people and damaged 15 high-rise apartment blocks.

Reports of explosions at an oil depot in Crimea

In Russian-occupied Crimea, loud explosions were heard near an oil depot in the early hours of Sunday, according to a local pro-Kyiv Telegram news channel, while Kremlin-installed officials in the territory said that a nearby stretch of highway was closed to traffic for about eight hours.

Videos shared with pro-Ukrainian channel Crimean Wind showed explosions lighting up the night sky, followed by loud booms. The channel said they were taken by local residents near Feodosia — a coastal town in northeastern Crimea. It was not immediately possible to verify the circumstances in which the videos were shot.

An anti-Russian, Crimean Tatar-led underground group claimed later that day that the blasts destroyed a pipeline, causing “colossal” damage.

The group, Atesh — which means “fire” in Crimean Tatar — did not directly claim responsibility for the strike, and said it had learned about its consequences from informers among Russian-appointed officials. Authorities in Kyiv did not immediately acknowledge or comment on the claims.

Traffic was halted early on Sunday along a four-lane Russian federal highway near Feodosia, according to an adviser to Crimea’s Kremlin-installed leader. The Telegram post by Oleg Kryuchkov gave no reasons for the move.

More than eight hours later, Crimea’s local transport minister reported that traffic had partially resumed. A bridge that connects Crimea to Russian territory was also closed to traffic for about two hours early Sunday morning.

Russia’s defence ministry on Sunday did not comment on the reports but claimed that 38 Ukrainian drones were intercepted overnight into Sunday over the peninsula.

China’s Ukraine envoy holds talks with Russian diplomats in Moscow

In Moscow, China’s special envoy on Ukraine held talks on Saturday evening with senior Russian diplomats in the first leg of a European trip that will also take him to Brussels, Poland, Germany and France, Chinese and Russian state media reported.

In a readout published on Sunday morning, China’s foreign ministry said that Special Representative Li Hui and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin agreed that negotiations are the only way to end the fighting in Ukraine.

Li’s trip, the second since last May, comes as Kyiv seeks Beijing’s participation in peace talks that Switzerland is trying to organise this spring. China claims it is neutral in Russia’s war on Ukraine but maintains close ties with Moscow, with frequent state visits and joint military drills.

“We will continue to play our unique role, carry out shuttle diplomacy, build consensus among all sides and contribute China’s wisdom to promote the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Wednesday.

On Sunday, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said that it was time to start discussing a cease-fire between Moscow and Kyiv, claiming that “both sides have now reached the limits of the results they can achieve through war”.

Speaking at a news conference during a diplomatic forum in the Turkish city of Antalya, Fidan said that such a move would not mean recognising Russia’s occupation of parts of Ukraine.

“We believe that it is time to separate the issues of recognition of the occupation and sovereignty from the cease-fire issue,” he said.