Russia launched one of its largest air attacks at targets across Ukraine early on June 10, leaving at least five dead and a maternity ward in the city of Odesa in ruins as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged action and "not silence from the world" to bring an end to more than three years of war.
Officials in Odesa said two people were killed in the southern port city with a blood transfusion center, a maternity hospital, and an administrative building for an emergency medical station all damaged in strikes by at least 10 Russian drones.
In Donetsk region, officials said at least three people were killed and eight others injured in strikes that damaged several houses and residential buildings.
Ukraine's air force said Russia fired 315 drones across the country, of which 277 were downed. All seven missiles launched by Russia were also brought down, it added.
"It is vital that the response to this and other similar Russian attacks is not silence from the world, but concrete action," Zelenskyy said on social media.
"Action from America, which has the power to force Russia into peace. Action from Europe, which has no alternative but to be strong. Action from others around the world who called for diplomacy and an end to the war -- and whom Russia has ignored. There must be strong pressure for the sake of peace."
Ukraine depends on the continued military assistance of its Western allies, but uncertainty about US policy on the war has cast doubt over how much support Kyiv can count on to defend itself against Russia.
Peace talks between the two sides have failed to achieve significant breakthroughs so far. Two recent rounds of direct talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul made ground on a new, large-scale prisoners exchange, but made no progress toward securing a cease-fire and ending the war.
The massive aerial strikes by Russia also come amid a renewed battlefield by Moscow's forces on the eastern and northeastern parts of the front line, a situation Zelenskyy has described as "very difficult."
One result of the peace talks has been massive prisoner swaps.
The two sides on June 9 exchanged busloads of POWs in what is expected to be an operation taking several days and involving hundreds captured on bother sides of the border.
