Ukrainian Valeria Glodan experienced “a new stage of happiness” after the birth of her baby three months ago. But that happiness came to an abrupt end last weekend: the woman and her child were killed in a Russian bombing raid on the southern port city of Odesa, the Ukrainian government reports.
“These were the best 40 weeks. Today our little girl is one month old. Dad brought the first flowers,” the new mother recently wrote on social media. But now, Valeria Glodan turns out to be one of the fatalities of a Russian bombing raid on Odessa last weekend. Six other people were also killed in the attack, including the woman’s child and mother.
“My loved ones are in the Kingdom of Heaven,” her husband Yury laments on Instagram. The man had just gone to the store when the bombing took place. “Valeria was a fantastic mother and friend, and she had all the good qualities. It would be impossible to find anyone else as good, and she was perfect. You only find such a person once in your life as a gift from God. A Russian missile destroyed my whole world. But what befalls me also befalls my city, my country. It is a blow to an entire civilization. I hope my story helps to end this war.”
In Ukraine, there is disgrace about the Russian attack, especially during Orthodox Easter. “The war started when this baby was one month old. So how was she a threat to Russia?” enraged President Volodimir Zelensky said in response. “It seems that killing children is Russia’s new national idea. Bastards they are, I have no other words for it.”
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, two missiles hit a military base in the city in the attack, but two other missiles landed in a residential area. Some missiles are also said to have been shot down by the Ukrainian air defence. Russia claims to have attacked only a logistics terminal where US and European-made weapons are believed to be located.
Russian General Rustam Minnekayev said Friday that his country wants to “take complete control of southern Ukraine” in order to create a land bridge to Transnistria – the Russian-backed separatist republic in Moldova.