KYIV (AFP/Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged the West to deliver more air defense systems after at least six people were killed in the latest Russian strikes.
Overnight aerial attacks claimed four lives in the southern port city of Odesa, including a three-year-old child, while shelling killed one person in the Kharkiv region near the Russian border and another in the southern frontline Kherson region, Ukrainian officials said.
“Russia continues to hit civilians,” Zelensky said in a post on social media.
“We need more air defenses from our partners. We need to strengthen the Ukrainian air shield to add more protection for our people from Russian terror. More air defence systems and more missiles for air defense systems saves lives,” he said.
Ukraine is currently on the back foot in the two-year war as a crucial $60-billion aid package is held up in the United States Congress.
In Odesa, “a nine-story building was destroyed as a result of an attack by Russian terrorists,” Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said in a post on Telegram.
Footage shared from the scene showed several floors of a residential building collapsed and its facade ripped off.
In another development, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin and China’s special representative for Eurasian affairs, Li Hui, said it was impossible to discuss a Ukraine settlement without Moscow’s participation, the Russian foreign ministry said on Sunday.
The Chinese envoy met with Galuzin during his second trip to Europe promoting a political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis, a tour that will also include Poland, Ukraine and Germany, Reuters reported.
“A very engaged and thorough exchange of views took place on the topic of the Ukrainian crisis,” the Russian foreign ministry said in the statement posted on its website.
“It was stated that any discussion of a political and diplomatic settlement is impossible without the participation of Russia and taking into account its interests in the security sphere.”
China is ready to “continue its efforts to promote peace talks, mediate and build consensus among Russia, Ukraine and other relevant parties, and promote a final political settlement of the Ukraine crisis,” China’s foreign ministry said in a readout from the meeting.