KYIV, Ukraine, May 1, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - A Russian drone strike overnight killed at least two people and wounded 15 others in a residential area of Odesa, the Ukrainian emergency services said early Thursday.

"Unfortunately, two people died, according to preliminary information, another 15 people were injured," the State Emergency Service of Ukraine posted on Telegram.

It described the attack as "massive" and said high-rise buildings, private houses, a supermarket, a school and cars were damaged.

More than 200 people were evacuated from one of the buildings, it added.

Andriy Yermak, a top aide to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, reacted to the news by calling for a "complete ceasefire" early Thursday in a post on Telegram.

"We must push for it together with the US," he wrote.

The strike came as the United States and Ukraine on Wednesday signed a minerals deal that US President Donald Trump's administration called a new form of US commitment to Kyiv after the end of military aid.

After initial hesitation, Ukraine has accepted the minerals accord as a way to secure long-term investment by Washington, as Trump aims to drastically scale back US security commitments around the world.

Explosions were also heard in the city of Sumy and air raid warnings were triggered in several places including Sumy, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia.

Yermak criticised Russian President Vladimir Putin in his Telegram post.

He wrote: "Putin will always have the desire to kill, until the end of his life, but diplomacy, forceful and economic methods of influence will still force Russia to stop the war.

"We are working on this with our partners every day."

He added: "There will be more important diplomacy soon, which will concern our security, as well as a just and sustainable peace."