This handout {photograph} obtained from the State Emergency Service of Ukraine on April 4, 2025, exhibits our bodies coated with survival blankets on the bottom in Kryvyi Rig, Dnipropetrovsk area, after a reported missile strike amid the Russian invasion on Ukraine. A Russian ballistic missile strike on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s residence metropolis of Kryvyi Rig killed 14 folks on April 4, 2025, together with six youngsters, the Ukrainian chief stated. The missile struck a residential space close to a youngsters’s playground and wounded greater than 50 folks, in response to the pinnacle of town’s army administration. (Photograph by State Emergency Service of Ukraine / AFP)
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday slammed the US embassy for what he referred to as a “weak” assertion that didn’t blame Russia for a missile strike on his hometown which killed 18 folks, together with 9 youngsters.
In one of many deadliest strikes in latest weeks, a Russian missile on Friday night struck a residential space close to a youngsters’s playground within the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rig.
Seventy-two folks have been wounded, 12 of them youngsters, Dnipropetrovsk governor Sergiy Lysak stated after the top of emergency operations in a single day, with metropolis officers declaring three days of mourning.
READ: Russian strike kills 18 in Ukrainian president’s residence metropolis
Zelensky in an emotional assertion on social media named every of the youngsters killed within the assault, accusing the US embassy of avoiding referring to Russia because the aggressor.
“Sadly, the response of the American Embassy is unpleasantly stunning: such a powerful nation, such a powerful folks — and such a weak response,” Zelensky wrote.
“They’re even afraid to say the phrase ‘Russian’ when speaking concerning the missile that killed the youngsters.”
Zelensky singled out america for criticism at a time when US President Donald Trump is pushing for a partial ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine whereas looking for a thaw in ties with Moscow.
‘Spade a spade’
The Ukrainian president took intention on the US Ambassador Bridget Brink after she posted a message on X on Friday night that stated: “Horrified that tonight a ballistic missile struck close to a playground and restaurant.”
Brink, who was appointed by Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden and has been ambassador since Might 2022, added that “for this reason the warfare should finish.”
Zelensky wrote on Saturday: “Sure, the warfare should finish. However in an effort to finish it, we should not be afraid to name a spade a spade.”
“It’s fallacious and harmful to maintain silent about the truth that it’s Russia that’s killing youngsters with ballistic missiles,” Zelensky reiterated in his night deal with.
“It solely incites the scum in Moscow to proceed the warfare and additional ignore diplomacy.”
The Ukrainian chief was born within the industrial metropolis of Kryvyi Rig, which had a pre-war inhabitants of round 600,000 folks.
Situated in Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk area, it’s about 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the entrance line, and has repeatedly been focused by Russian drones and missiles.
Zelensky stated the youngsters killed by the most recent assault ranged in age from a three-year-old boy, Tymofiy, to a 17-year-old teenage boy, Nikita.
Oleksandr Vilkul, the pinnacle of Kryvyi Rig’s army administration, stated three days of mourning had been declared on April 7, 8, and 9.
“That is nothing lower than a mass homicide of civilians,” he stated.
Photos circulated by rescue companies confirmed a number of our bodies, one stretched out close to a playground swing.
“That is the sort of ache you wouldn’t want in your worst enemy,” Lysak stated.
Russia’s defence ministry stated it “delivered a precision strike” within the metropolis “the place commanders of formations and Western instructors have been assembly.”
The Basic Employees of the Ukrainian military retorted that Moscow was “making an attempt to cowl up its cynical crime” and “spreading false info.” It accused Russia of “warfare crimes.”
‘Not human’
Trump, who stated throughout his re-election marketing campaign he might finish the three-year battle inside days, is pushing the 2 sides to comply with a ceasefire however his administration has didn’t dealer an accord acceptable to each.
Zelensky stated the missile assault confirmed Russia had no real interest in stopping its full-scale invasion, launched in February 2022.
“Russia doesn’t need a ceasefire and we see it. The entire world sees it,” he stated, including that after the missile strike Moscow launched assault drones “proper in the course of the rescue operation” and “yet one more individual died.”
“People who find themselves able to that sort of factor aren’t human,” Zelensky stated.
The president hailed “tangible progress” after assembly British and French army chiefs in Kyiv on Friday to debate a plan by London and Paris to ship a “reassurance” drive to Ukraine if and when a deal on ending the battle is reached.
Zelensky wrote on social media that the assembly with British Chief of the Defence Employees Tony Radakin and French counterpart Thierry Burkhard agreed “the primary particulars on how the safety contingent of companions will be deployed,” with out giving particulars.
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This is without doubt one of the newest efforts by European leaders to agree on a coordinated coverage after Trump sidelined them and opened direct talks with the Kremlin.