Ukraine updates: Apartment block hit in Odesa drone strike

Several people were injured in an explosion at an apartment building in the Russian city of St. Petersburg, with local media reporting that a drone had hit the building. 

The blast shattered some windows in the five-story apartment building. Governor Alexander Beglov spoke only of an "incident" as he promised help to residents of the damaged apartments.

The Russian Defense Ministry had no comment on the blast. The drone may have been targeting a nearby oil storage facility, according to a report by the St. Petersburg news site Fontanka. 

Meanwhile, Alexander Drozdenko, the governor of the Leningrad Oblast which includes St. Petersburg, said "aerial targets" were hit over the waters and coastline of the Gulf of Finland in Lomonosov district, which includes Bronka, a port about 60 kilometers west of the city.

Ukraine has previously attacked targets in the Russian hinterland, including the fuel export terminal at Ust-Luga in the Leningrad region, which borders St. Petersburg.

At least eight people, including a three-month-old baby, were killed when Russian drone debris hit an apartment block in Ukraine's southern port city of Odesa overnight, officials said.

"Rescuers in Odesa have just uncovered the bodies of a mother with a three-month-old baby," Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said in a post on his Telegram channel alongside a photo of a rescuer standing next to a blood-stained blanket with a baby's arm visible on one side and an adult arm reaching out on the other.

Eight people were injured and rescuers were still searching for others under the rubble, said Oleh Kiper, governor of the Odesa region.

The strike caused extensive damage to the building with images from Ukrainian emergency services showing rubble strewn around, and smoke rising from the apartment block.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces reported that the Odesa region was attacked by eight Russian drones, seven of which were shot down by air defenses. Across the country, air defenses shot down 14 of 17 drones launched against Ukraine, the armed forces said.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has again defended his decision not to deploy soldiers to the Ukraine war.

"We are not going to send European soldiers to Ukraine. We do not want a war between Russia and NATO and we will do everything to prevent it," he told the Party of European Socialists (PES) congress in Rome. 

According to Scholz, there is a clear understanding among Western partners that NATO and none of its countries should become a party to the war. The key to restoring peace in Europe is the West's continued support for Ukraine in its defense against Russia's invasion, Scholz continued. 

At the same time, he called on the EU to invest more in its own security and defense. 

Earlier this week, French President Emmanuel Macron raised the prospect of sending Western troops to Ukraine at a conference in Paris. Many other leaders, including Scholz, distanced themselves from the idea.

French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne told Le Monde newspaper there was no rift between Berlin and Paris on Ukraine, despite some differences.

"There is no Franco-German conflict, we agree on 80% of the issues," Sejourne said. "There is a will to talk to each other," he said ahead of a meeting with his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock on Tuesday. 

With the US; France and Germany are key backers of Ukraine's attempt to repel a full-scale Russian invasion. However, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz continues to categorically rule out the delivery of Taurus cruise missiles. France has already made SCALP missiles, a similar weapons system, available to Kyiv.

Going a step further, French President Emmanuel Macron said he would not rule out the deployment of Western ground forces in Ukraine. Many other leaders, including Scholz, distanced themselves from the idea. 

"I'll be honest: everything we ruled out at one point, we did six months later because of the situation," Sejourne said. "This is not a drama, because we have the same goal of supporting Ukraine."

What is needed, however, is more coherence in the European approach, the French diplomat said.

Germany's Defense Ministry has confirmed the authenticity of a recording of a confidential discussion between high-ranking Bundeswehr officers regarding the war in Ukraine that was leaked by Russian state media.

"According to our assessment, a conversation in the Air Force was intercepted. We cannot currently say with certainty whether changes were made to the recorded or written version that is circulating on social media," a spokeswoman for the ministry said.

The head of Russian state broadcaster RT, Margarita Simonyan, on Friday published what she said was an audio recording between German officers, including the chief of the Air Force, Lieutenant General Ingo Gerhartz.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz described it as "a very serious matter."

"It will now be investigated very carefully, very intensively, and very quickly," Scholz said on Saturday during a visit to Rome.

The recording was apparently made from a video conference between four Luftwaffe offices discussing Russia's war in Ukraine.

German outlet Der Spiegel reported that the virtual meeting did not take place via a secure line, but via the Webex platform.

German lawmakers are seeking clarity following the publication of alleged Bundeswehr briefing by Russian state broadcaster RT.

"If this story turns out to be true, it would be a highly problematic incident," chair of the Bundestag's parliamentary oversight committee Konstantin von Notz, told the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND) news agency.

On Friday the German Ministry of Defense said it was investigating whether air force communications were intercepted, following allegations from Moscow.

Earlier on Friday, Margarita Simonyan, head of RT, claimed to have received an audio recording of an approximately 40-minute conversation in which German military officers allegedly discussed whether Taurus missiles would be technically capable of destroying the bridge built by Russia to the Crimean peninsula.

RT has been described as a propaganda outlet for the Russian government and Russian foreign policy.

There has been a broadcasting ban in place on RT following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in the European Union, the US and other countries.

It was not immediately possible to verify the alleged recording RT purported to have in its possession.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz has several times said Germany would not be supplying Taurus missiles to Ukraine, most recently this week. The comments prompted some domestic and international criticism.

Speaker of Hungary's parliament Sandor Lezsak has signed off on the ratification of Sweden's NATO accession, with the next step being the signature from the president's office for promulgation.

The final hurdle was cleared on Monday, when lawmakers in Budapest approved Sweden's NATO accession in a vote that ended months of delays.

The matter had previously been stalled in parliament in Budapest over objections from lawmakers from Orban's ruling Fidesz party. Only a handful of MPs opposed the motion, after Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government allowed it to come to a vote

Sweden first applied to join the military alliance in May 2022 in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Finland lodged its application at the same time and was admitted in April 2023. Both countries remained non-aligned throughout the Cold War.

Local authorities on Saturday said at least seven people have been killed and eight others were injured after a Russian drone strike hit in the southern port city of Odesa.

Regional governor Oleh Kiper said a nine-story apartment block in a residential area was struck, destroying part of the building.

Kiper said that a 3-year-old child was killed and a pregnant woman was among the injured and rescue teams were at the scene searching through rubble for any survivors that may have been trapped.

Later in the day, rescuers uncovered the bodies of a mother and her three-month-old baby, bringing the death toll to seven.

The strike caused extensive damage to the building with images from Ukrainian emergency services showing rubble strewn around, and smoke rising from the apartment block.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a social media post that "Russia continues to wage war against civilians"

Zelenskyy made an appeal for more help as his country continues battling Russia's invasion.

"We need more air defense capabilities from our partners. The Ukrainian air shield must be strengthened in order to effectively protect our people from Russian terror. More air defense systems and air defense missiles are what saves lives.," Zelenskyy said.

Ukraine has been calling on its Western allies to provide significantly more air defense support and additional air defence systems, as Congress in the US is deadlocked on the latest planned installment of military aid.

dh, kb/msh (AP, dpa, AFP, Reuters)