Death toll from Russia strike in Ukraine’s Odesa rises to 12 as China envoy tours Moscow

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said ‘the world must respond to every manifestation of Russian evil and repel Russia’s actions’

In Moscow, China’s special envoy on Ukraine said negotiations were the only way to end fighting in Ukraine after holding talks with Russian diplomats

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Local residents react at the site of a building heavily damaged by a Russian drone strike. Photo: Reuters

Published: 9:32pm, 3 Mar 2024Updated: 3:30am, 4 Mar 2024

The death toll rose to 12 on Sunday a day after a Russian drone strike destroyed a block of flats in Ukraine’s southern port city of Odesa. A local official reported the bodies of two more children and a young mother were pulled from the rubble.

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

He said the attack showed the importance of supporting Ukraine, as delays to a crucial US$60 billion aid package from the United States have left Kyiv facing ammunition shortages.

Ukrainian rescuers continue to clean debris on the site of a damaged residential building on Sunday after a Russian drone attack a day earlier, in the southern city of Odesa, Ukraine. Photo: EPA-EFE

“We must win this war,” Zelensky said on Sunday.

“Every Russian loss at the front is our country’s response to Russian terror. The world must respond to every manifestation of Russian evil and repel Russia’s actions.”

The attack killed five children, including two babies less than a year old, according to statements by Zelensky and the regional governor.

“Mark, who was not even three years old, Yelyzaveta, eight months old, and Tymofiy, four months old,” Zelensky said, naming the youngest victims of the strike in a post on Telegram.