Grieving husband pays tribute to mother and baby killed in Russian missile attack on Odessa – World News

Valeria Hlodan and her daughter Kira were among eight civilians killed in a missile attack in the southern Ukrainian port city of Odessa on Saturday by Russian forces

Image of a young mother and her three-month-old baby who were killed in a Russian missile attack in Odessa.

Valeria Hlodan and her daughter Kira were among eight civilians killed – along with 18 others injured – after rockets hit residential buildings and a military complex in the Ukrainian port city on Saturday.

Husband Yuriy posted a photo of his wife and daughter in a heartbreaking tribute on social media.

He wrote: “My dear ones, Kingdom of Heaven! You are in our hearts!”

The same photo – which shows Valeria beaming as she bottle-feeds her baby – was also shared on the official Ukrainian parliament Twitter account.

The tweet read: “A charming young mother and her three-month-old baby.

“Their lives were taken by Russia today when a Russian missile hit a residential building in Odesa…. RIP, our angels.”

Valeria posted on Instagram the announcement of Kira’s birth and claims she’s found “a new level of happiness” – this has resurfaced after her death

It showed her soon-to-be pregnant mother and was captioned: “It’s been the most amazing 40 weeks. Our daughter is now a month old. Dad gave her her first flowers. It was a beautiful day. new level of happiness.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Chief of Staff Andriy Permak confirmed Saturday’s attack.

The last major strike on or near Odessa was in early April.

“The sole target of Russia’s missile attacks on Odessa is terrorism,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Twitter.

Russia has denied targeting civilians during a “special military operation” that began February 24.

Meanwhile, in Mariupol, Russia continues its assault on the last of Ukrainian defenders hiding in a giant steel structure, a Ukrainian official said on Saturday.

The attack came just days after Moscow declared victory over the southern port city and said its forces did not need to capture the plant.

Presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said Russian forces were attacking the Azovstal complex and trying to attack it, adding that “the enemy is trying to stifle the last resistance of the defenders of Mariupol. “.

The biggest battle of the conflict has been going on for weeks as Russia seeks to capture a city seen as vital in an attempt to link the eastern Donbas region with Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula Moscow seized in 2014. .

A Russian general, Rustam Minnekayev, on Friday said Moscow wants to control the whole of southern Ukraine, not just the Donbas.

Ukraine said the comments indicated that Russia had broader goals than its stated goals of demilitarization and “denuclearization” of the country.

Kyiv and Western Ukraine call the invasion an unjustified war of aggression.