Russian drones kill 3 and wound children in Ukraine as Zelensky urges speedier diplomacy

KYIV, Ukraine — A heavy Russian drone bombardment of Ukraine’s southern city of Odesa killed at least three people and wounded 23, including two children and a pregnant woman, officials said Tuesday, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for speedier U.S. efforts to end Russia’s almost four-year-old invasion of his country.

The Odesa attack involved more than 50 drones, some of them models recently upgraded by Russia to improve their range and strike power, according to Ukrainian authorities.

The drones targeted the power grid, which Russia has repeatedly bombarded during the coldest winter in years, and also hit five apartment blocks, officials said. Emergency crews retrieved the bodies of two men, ages 90 and 52, and a woman from the rubble, authorities said.

“The rescue operation will continue until the fate of all people who may be under the rubble is clarified,” Zelensky said on the Telegram messaging app, adding that an informal Protestant place of worship was also damaged.

“Each such Russian strike undermines diplomacy, which is still ongoing, and hits, in particular, the efforts of partners who are helping to end this war,” he said.

A diplomatic push by the Trump administration to end the war has made progress, according to officials, but has delivered no breakthrough on the key issue of what happens to Russian-occupied Ukrainian land and other territory that Moscow is demanding.

Analysts say that Russian President Vladimir Putin is in no rush to find a settlement, despite his army’s difficulties on the roughly 600-mile front line. He believes that time is on his side, that Western support for Kyiv will fade and that Ukraine’s resistance will eventually break under pressure, according to analysts.

To replenish its forces and keep up the pressure on Kyiv, Moscow is offering cash bonuses, freeing convicts from prison and luring foreigners to its army.

An Associated Press investigation found that unwitting Bangladeshi workers were enticed to Russia under the false promise of civilian work before being thrown into combat in Ukraine.

Zelensky said late Monday the next round of talks with the United States and Russia is penciled in for Feb. 1 but that “it would be good if this meeting could be accelerated.”

He also urged that, in the meantime, additional sanctions be imposed on Russia to compel the Kremlin to make compromises.

Russia fired 165 drones at Ukraine overnight, with 24 of them that got through air defenses hitting targets in seven regions, according to Ukraine’s air force.

In recent weeks, the relentless barrages have damaged some of Ukraine’s protected world heritage sites in Odesa, the western city of Lviv and the capital, Kyiv, UNESCO said Tuesday.

They have also knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of civilians. More than 900 apartment blocks remained without heating Tuesday in several districts of Kyiv, Zelensky said. Kyiv, a city of about 3 million people, is dominated by tower blocks, many from the Soviet era.

Russia has been improving its drone technology and tactics, striking Ukraine with increasing success.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s main intelligence directorate said this month that Russia had deployed the new jet-powered “Geran-5” strike drone against Ukraine for the first time. The Geran is a Russian variant of the Iranian-designed Shahed.

According to the directorate, the drone can carry a 200-pound warhead and has a range of nearly 600 miles.

In response, Ukraine has significantly expanded production of interceptor drones, as well as developing its own long-range drones.

The Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday that its air defenses shot down 19 Ukrainian drones overnight over several Russian regions.

Hrabchuk writes for the Associated Press.