Rescuers in the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa recovered the bodies of a mother and a baby from the rubble of an apartment building on Sunday, raising the death toll from a Russian attack two days ago to 10. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said delays The country’s air defense allies had contributed to the deaths.
Mr. Zelensky’s complaint appeared to reflect frustration that Ukraine’s ability to resist Moscow’s military campaign and protect its citizens was undermined by the failure of the House of Representatives to approve a multibillion-dollar military aid package.
The drone struck the building Friday night, and emergency workers have been picking up the debris since then. Odessa, a port city on the Black Sea, was a key initial target of Moscow’s wide-scale invasion two years ago, and in recent months Russian forces have frequently targeted the city with drone strikes, often launched from Crimea. . However, this weekend’s attack has particularly outraged Ukrainians.
Rescuers said the mother and baby were found together. “The mother tried to cover her 8-month-old child,” the State Emergency Service said in a statement posted on social messaging service Telegram. “They found themselves in a tight embrace.”
A 3-year-old girl was among eight people injured, Mr Zelensky said in an overnight speech, in which he said Ukrainian civilians were more vulnerable because the country’s armed forces had no air defenses that could shoot down the Shahed drones that has supplied Iran to Moscow.
“The world has enough anti-missile defense systems, systems to protect against drones and Shahed missiles. And the delay in the supply of weapons to Ukraine, anti-missile defense systems for the protection of our people, leads, unfortunately, to such losses,” he said. He did not specifically mention US aid, but the country is by far Ukraine’s largest overall military donor.
“When lives are being lost and partners are just playing internal political games or disputes that limit our defenses, it’s impossible to understand. It is unacceptable,” said Mr. Zelensky.
More than 10,000 civilians have been killed in the past two years, according to UN figures, the vast majority by explosions rather than gunfire. Air strike alerts have become a reality for many Ukrainians, and the country has come to rely on air defenses provided by the United States and other NATO allies.
But a US bill that includes $60.1 billion in military aid to the Kiev government, including air defenses, has been stalled in the House for months, stalled by opposition from some Republicans and former President Donald J. Trump, who is the presumptive Republican nominee for president.
Since the full-scale invasion began, Mr. Zelensky has repeatedly pressed the country’s allies for more weapons, often using strong language that has at times upset some leaders in NATO countries. He has argued that Ukraine’s defense against Moscow is central to all of Europe’s security as well as democratic values more broadly.
Ukrainian military commanders also said a shortage of ammunition and artillery had made it harder to resist Russian advances on the battlefield, mainly around the town of Avdiivka in the eastern Donetsk region, which fell to Russian forces last month.
Ukraine’s counteroffensive, launched last June, failed to achieve its goals and since then Moscow has gradually regained the initiative in the war, seizing small chunks of territory amid heavy fighting. Military experts say Ukraine could face a tough year on the battlefield, particularly if a lack of military aid forces it to take serious care of ammunition.
