Three more people were killed in separate attacks in Ukraine as President Zelenskiy called on Western countries to strengthen air defenses.
A Russian drone attack on an apartment complex in the port city of Odesa in southern Ukraine killed at least seven people, including a 3-year-old and a woman with an infant, local authorities said.
“Rescue teams in Odesa have just discovered the body of a mother with a three-month-old baby,” Interior Minister Ihor Klimenko said in a post on the Telegram app on Saturday.
At the scene, smoke billowed from debris strewn on the ground where drones had ripped off chunks several stories high of buildings. Clothes and furniture were scattered among the ruined chunks of concrete and iron that hung over the sides of the apartment.
Ukraine's State Emergency Service posted a photo showing a dead infant being placed in a body bag by rescue workers.
“It is impossible to forget this! It is impossible to forgive this,” wrote one. She announced that five people, including one child, were rescued alive.
Odesa region governor Ole Kipel said eight people were injured and rescuers were searching for more people under the rubble.
President Zelenskiy calls for strengthening air defense system
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the drone was a Shahed supplied by Iran.
During the war, Russia launched thousands of these long-range winged drones at targets deep in Ukraine.
Al Jazeera's Rob McBride, reporting from Kiev, said a total of 17 Shahid drones targeted Ukraine in night attacks, most of which were intercepted by air defenses.
Three people were killed in separate shelling attacks on the front-line areas of Kharkiv, Kherson and Zaporizhia, Ukrainian officials said.
Following the series of attacks, President Zelenskiy renewed his call for Western countries to deploy more air defense systems.
“We need more air defense from our partners. We need to strengthen Ukraine’s air defense shield to further protect our people from Russian terrorism. More air defense systems and more missiles for air defense systems will save lives. “I'm going to be attacked,” he said.
Ukraine is currently on the losing side of a two-year war, and a critical $60 billion aid package is pending in the U.S. Congress.
Drone crashes into building in St. Petersburg
Ukraine also appears to have launched its own attacks, with Russia's National Guard saying a drone struck a five-story house in St. Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city, on Saturday without causing any casualties.
Video posted on Russian social media showed what appeared to be a drone spiraling into the building, causing an explosion that blew out windows and started a small fire. .
The city's National Guard division said its preliminary assumption was that the damage was caused by a “dropped drone.”
Ukrainian media reported that the drone was shot down by Russian air defense forces as it was targeting an oil depot about a kilometer from the crash site.
Kiev has attacked several Russian oil facilities in recent months in fair retaliation for Russia's attacks on Ukraine's power grid.
