“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.

“Ukrainian children are Russia’s military targets,” he said.

Oleh Kiper, governor of the Odesa region, on Sunday afternoon reported that the body of a 10-year-old boy was found amid the debris. Hours earlier, Ukraine’s interior ministry reported that rescuers 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 block of flats – one of eight Russian drones reported by officials. Later that day, Zelensky said a second child had also died.

“Tymofiy was four months old. Mark was about to turn three years old. My condolences to all of their close ones,” Zelensky wrote in English on X, formerly Twitter. He added that a three-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,” Zelensky wrote.

More people may still be trapped in the rubble, the Odesa branch of Ukraine’s main emergency service said in a Facebook update on Sunday. Kiper said rescuers 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 governor Ivan Fedorov said.

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

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 a nearby stretch of motorway 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 did not give the 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 on 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.

In a readout published on Sunday morning, China’s foreign ministry said Li Hui and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin agreed that negotiations were 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 between the two nations.

“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 spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Wednesday.

On Sunday, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said that it was time to start discussing a ceasefire 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 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 ceasefire issue,” he said.

Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse