A rookie scientist ends up on the front lines with the Russian army

Woman hugging child found in debris of Ukrainian building in Russian drone attack

President Volodymyr Zelensky called on his Western allies to strengthen Ukraine’s air defenses after a Russian drone strike destroyed an apartment building in the southern port of Odessa and killed at least 11 people. The bodies of a child and a woman hugging a child were pulled from the debris on Saturday, officials said on Sunday.

“The mother tried to cover the 8-month-old baby with her body. She tried to protect him. They hugged tightly,” according to a post on the official Telegram channel of the Interior Ministry. Separately, Odessa region governor Oleh Kiper said the second child was 10 years old.

On Saturday, Ukrainian officials said another child was among the dead after debris from an Iranian-made drone fell on a building, one of eight Russian drones reported by authorities. Later that day, Zelensky said that another 2-year-old boy also died. “The delay in arms deliveries to Ukraine, as well as the delay in raising air defense to protect our people, unfortunately results in such losses,” Zelensky wrote in X. More people may be trapped, the division in Odessa noted on Facebook of the main Ukrainian emergency service. Kipper indicated that rescue workers were still searching the area.