This handout {photograph} obtained from the State Emergency Service of Ukraine on April 4, 2025 reveals our bodies lined with survival blankets on the bottom in Kryvyi Rig, Dnipropetrovsk area, after a reported missile strike amid the Russian invasion on Ukraine. (Picture by State Emergency Service of Ukraine / AFP)
A Russian ballistic missile strike on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s house metropolis of Kryvyi Rig killed 18 folks on Friday, amongst them 9 youngsters, authorities mentioned.
The missile struck a residential space close to a youngsters’s playground and wounded greater than two dozen others, in line with the top of the town’s army administration.
Unverified movies on social media appeared to indicate our bodies mendacity on a road, whereas one other confirmed a plume of smoke rising into the night sky.
“18… that’s how many individuals had been killed by the Russians after they launched a missile at Kryvyi Rig.
Amongst them had been 9 youngsters,” Dnipropetrovsk regional governor Sergiy Lysak mentioned on Telegram.
He mentioned 61 folks had been injured within the assault, amongst them 12 youngsters.
“That is the sort of ache you wouldn’t want in your worst enemy,” Lysak added.
Russia’s Ministry of Protection mentioned it “delivered a precision strike with a high-explosive missile at a restaurant” within the metropolis “the place commanders of formations and Western instructors had been assembly.”
In separate drone assault on Kryvyi Rig, Lysak mentioned one further particular person was killed and three others injured.
US President Donald Trump has been pushing for a speedy finish to the greater than three-year battle since taking workplace, however his administration has didn’t dealer a ceasefire regardless of talks with each side.
Zelensky mentioned the assault confirmed Russia had no real interest in stopping its full-scale invasion, launched in February 2022.
“There is just one motive why this continues — Russia doesn’t need a ceasefire and we see it. The entire world sees it,” he mentioned.
The Ukrainian chief was born in Kryvyi Rig, an industrial metropolis which had a pre-war inhabitants of round 600,000 folks.
Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected a joint US-Ukrainian proposal for an unconditional and full ceasefire in March, whereas the Kremlin has made a US-proposed truce within the Black Sea depending on the West lifting sure sanctions.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio mentioned earlier on Friday that Trump was not “going to fall into the lure of limitless negotiations” with Russia over the invasion.
“We are going to know quickly sufficient, in a matter of weeks, not months, whether or not Russia is critical about peace or not,” he mentioned.
‘Warfare crime’
Kryvyi Rig, in Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk area, is about 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the entrance line, and has often been focused by Russian drones and missiles.
Oleksandr Vilkul, the top of the town’s army administration, mentioned the missile landed close to a youngsters’s playground.
5 condominium buildings had been broken, inside minister Igor Klymenko mentioned.
He mentioned police had blocked off the realm to take care of order.
“The police are documenting the implications of Russia’s battle crime and accepting statements from the victims,” Klymenko added.
Social media video from the scene confirmed a automobile in flames, whereas folks could possibly be heard shouting.
Andriy Kovalenko, a Ukrainian official tasked with countering disinformation, described the missile concerned within the assault as an “Iskander.”
The Iskander is a Russian ballistic missile system that may have a spread of as much as 500 kilometers (311 miles).
“This can be a deliberate strike to kill numerous folks,” Kovalenko mentioned.
Zelensky accused Russia of relating to diplomacy as an “empty phrase” in his night deal with.
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“A ceasefire might have been reached by now and it’s Putin who rejects it,” he mentioned.