Tributes to mum and three-month-old baby killed in Russian missile strike on Odesa, as Putin launches fresh assault

TRIBUTES have poured in for a mum and her three-month-old baby killed in a Russian missile strike on Odesa.

Valeria Hlodan and her daughter Kira were among eight people to die in Saturday's barbaric attack which left 18 others injured.

Her husband Yuriy led tributes by posting a photo of his late wife and daughter.

The distraught dad wrote: "My dear ones, Kingdom of Heaven! You are in our hearts!".

The picture was shared on the Ukrainian parliament's official Twitter account.

"A charming young mother and her three-month-old child," the tweet read.

"Their lives were taken by Russia today when a Russian rocket hit a residential building in Odesa....RIP, our angels."

Politico reporter Christopher Miller shared a photo from Valeria's Instagram page announcing Kira's birth.

The image shows a happy Valeria holding her pregnant belly and was captioned: "Those were the best 40 weeks. Our girl is a month old now. Papa gave her her first flowers. It’s a new level of happiness."

A military compound and two residential buildings were stuck by Russian missiles in the southern port city, the president's chief of staff Andriy Permak said in an online post.

It comes as Ukraine's military General Staff said Putin's troops were continuing their "offensive operations" in eastern Ukraine with the aim of establishing a land corridor between the Donbass and Crimea.

Ukrainian forces have in the past 24 hours repelled eight Russian attacks in two regions, destroying nine tanks, 18 armoured units and 13 vehicles, a tanker and three artillery systems, the General Staff said in a Facebook post yesterday.

Elsewhere, up to 20 Brit fighters were last night trapped in bunkers pounded by Russian airstrikes as they mounted a defiant last stand in Mariupol.

They are holed up with hundreds of starving civilians — including children and women filmed pleading for mercy yesterday.

One observer said of the scene beneath the fortress-like Azovstal steelworks: “They are desperately holding out — it’s like the Alamo.”

It came as a three-month-old baby was among at least six people killed by a missile strike in Odessa.

The Mariupol Brits are volunteers with the Ukrainian army who have vowed to never surrender.

They fear being tortured and killed if captured — but face starvation after Mad Vlad Putin’s forces cut off supplies.