At least five people were killed and 32 wounded in a Russian missile attack on the Black Sea port city of Odesa, the regional governor said Monday, just hours after President Volodymyr Zelensky called for a faster delivery of desperately needed weapons to Ukrainian troops, Ukrainian Service reported. Radio Free Europe.
In the evening attack on Odesa, three women and one man were killed, Governor Oleh Kiper said on Telegram. He later added that another man died of a stroke he suffered as a result of the attack.
Of the 32 people who were injured, 25 are in the hospital, he said. Among them are two children aged 16 and five and a pregnant woman. The five-year-old is in extremely serious condition, he said, adding that six adults are in serious condition.
Earlier in Kiev, at a joint press conference with the head of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, Zelensky said that small quantities of weapons and ammunition have started arriving in Ukraine, but he called for the deliveries to be accelerated more quickly.
"Timely support to our army. Today I still don't see anything positive on this issue. There are supplies, they started slowly, but this process needs to be accelerated," he said.
Arms flows are expected to increase after US President Joe Biden signed a long-delayed $61 billion military aid package last Sunday.
Biden said the package would include air defense munitions to help Ukraine protect its cities and infrastructure, artillery shells and long-range missile systems.
Stoltenberg, in his third visit to the Ukrainian capital since Russia launched a general invasion in February 2022, admitted that "serious delays in support meant serious consequences on the battlefield."
"For months, the US was unable to agree on a package, and the European allies were unable to deliver ammunition in the volume we promised," he added, but also said that "more support is on the way."
On April 29, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that it had captured the village of Semenivka in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region and was advancing westward.
Ukraine did not comment on the claim, which could not be independently verified.
Semenivka is located about 10 kilometers from Avdijevka, which fell to Russian forces in February after a fierce battle that lasted several months.
Ukraine's top military commander, Lt. Gen. Oleksandr Sirski, warned on Sunday that the situation in the east of the country had worsened and that Russia was attacking "along the entire front line."
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