KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Russian drone strike in the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa killed two women and a baby, authorities said Monday, as long-range Ukrainian drones targeted Russia’s main Black Sea port for oil exports.
The overnight attack in Odesa heavily damaged an apartment block, killing women and a 2-year-old child, officials said. Rescue teams working under floodlights pulled four people from the wreckage.
Eleven people were hospitalized, including a pregnant woman and two children — the youngest less than a year old, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post on X.
Russia has been hitting civilian areas of Ukraine ever since conquered its neighbor just over four years ago, killing more than 15,000 people, according to the United Nations.
Over the past week, Russia has launched more than 2,800 attack drones in Ukraine, nearly 1,350 powerful gliding bombs and more than 40 missiles of various types, according to Zelenskyy.
In the southern city of Kherson, Russian shelling killed an elderly woman and three other women, aged 86, 79 and 44, were hospitalized, according to Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the regional military administration. The injured women suffered from bullet wounds, shock, blast wounds and head trauma, he said.
Seven people were injured by Russian drones and shelling in the southern city of Nikopol, leaving a 62-year-old man in critical condition, after the attacks damaged a high-rise building and a pharmacy.
Drones also hit Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, injuring three people, according to the head of the regional military administration, Oleh Sinehubov.
Russia has targeted Energy grid of Ukraineand overnight volleys hit power infrastructure in Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Dnipro regions, Zelenskyy said.
More than 300,000 households were without electricity in northern Chernihiv after distribution facilities were damaged in the attacks, according to the regional power unit.
Zelenskyy expressed concern in a weekend interview with The Associated Press that the war in the Middle East is depleting the stockpile of weapons Ukraine needs to defend itself, particularly American-made Patriot air defense systems that can intercept missiles.
Zelenskyy said on Monday that the country’s partners “must jointly strengthen air defense so that the rate of interception of drones and missiles continues to increase.”
With US-led peace efforts stalling, Zelenskyy added: “Russia has no intention of stopping” its invasion.
Ukraine has fought back by developing its own long-range drones, which now reach targets about 1,500 kilometers (900 miles) inside Russia.
Ukraine has recently used them to hammer Russian oil facilities as Moscow seeks to increase its exports after the Trump administration granted it a temporary waiver from sanctions to ease supply constraints. Kiev officials complain that Russia will use the extra revenue from the new weapons to hit Ukraine harder.
The Russian Defense Ministry said Ukrainian drones struck the Novorossiysk oil terminal, one of Russia’s largest ports on the Black Sea, overnight. The attack damaged a pipeline, loading and unloading berths and set fire to four tanks carrying petroleum products.
The attack damaged assets belonging to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium run by US and Kazakh companies, he said.
Eight people, including two children, were injured in the Novorossiysk attack that damaged six residential buildings and two private homes, according to Krasnodar Governor Veniamin Kondratyev.
Last week, Ukrainian drones struck oil facilities in the Gulf of Finland, in northwestern Russia.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said air defenses shot down 50 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Ukraine’s armed forces claimed to have hit a Russian Black Sea frigate, the Admiral Makarov, and a drilling rig.
Russian officials did not immediately comment on the claim.
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By DEREK GATOPOULOS and VOLODYMR YURCHUK Associated Press
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