Drone attack by Russia kills woman, 2-year-old daughter in Ukraine’s Odesa

A drone attack by Russia on Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa overnight Monday killed a 30-year-old woman, her two-year-old daughter and another woman, also damaging residential buildings and energy infrastructure, the regional governor said.

“Overnight, Odesa came under another heavy attack by the enemy,” Oleh Kiper, Odesa regional governor, said on the Telegram app, adding that 16 people, including a pregnant woman and two small children, were injured.

Residential buildings, energy infrastructure and a kindergarten were hit, Ukrainian officials added.

About 16,700 households in several Odesa districts were without electricity, energy company DTEK said, adding the damage was extensive and repairs would take time.

Home’s staircase ‘collapsed,’ resident says

Reuters television footage showed rescue workers and firefighters clearing the debris at one of the strike sites — a residential house with a severely damaged central part of the building.

“Two drones struck at our house — one at the roof and the other at the central part of the house. Our staircase collapsed completely and blocked our way out,” 21-year-old Danylo, who lives in the house, told Reuters.

With the war in its fifth year, Moscow has escalated its attacks on Odesa, a key logistics hub in southern Ukraine and the country’s largest port, handling the majority of the Ukrainian grain and other maritime exports.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in a post on social media platform X, said Russia launched 140 drones at Ukraine in overnight attacks, and struck energy infrastructure in the Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Dnipro regions, reiterating his call for more air defence.

“Russia has no intention of stopping,” Zelenskyy said.

“During the past week, over 2,800 attack drones were used, along with nearly 1,350 guided aerial bombs, and more than 40 missiles of various types.