Regional Governor Serhii Lysak said on Saturday that the death toll from Russian missile strikes in Kryvyi Rih, a central Ukrainian city, had risen to 18 children, including nine.
61 more people were injured in the attack on Friday, from a three-month-old baby to an elderly resident. Forty people remained hospitalized, including two children in critical condition and 17 were in severe condition.
“This is absolutely not forgiven,” said Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the city’s defense committee. “An eternal memory of the victim.”
Kryvyi Rih is the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“The missiles hit an area next to the residential building – crashed into the playground and the ordinary streets,” Zelenskyy wrote in the telegram.
Local authorities said the strike damaged about 20 apartment buildings, more than 30 cars, an education building and a restaurant.
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed on Friday that it had held a high-precision missile strike at a restaurant and had a highly explosive warhead at a meeting with unit commanders and Western coaches.
The Russian military claimed the strike killed 85 military personnel and foreign officers and destroyed 20 vehicles. The military’s claims cannot be independently verified. The Ukrainian General Staff rejected the claims.
Later a drone strike against Kryvyi Rih killed a woman and injured seven more people.
“Russia only wants war”
Zelenskyy blames Russia for its reluctance to end the war. He urged Ukraine’s allies to increase pressure on Moscow and Ukraine’s air defense.
The Ukrainian president also criticized the U.S. Embassy’s response to the strike. “More than 50 people were injured, 16 of them were killed, including six children. That’s why the war must end,” the ambassador Bridget A. Posted on social media on Friday.
With the Trump administration’s support for Ukraine, CBC’s Terence McKenna reviewed the European scramble to strengthen its main defenders against Russia and whether European countries can completely replace U.S. military and diplomatic power.
Zelenskyy, who has been in tension with U.S. President Donald Trump so far, believes the position is “surprising” because they did not directly name Russia as the perpetrator of the attack.
“So powerful country, so powerful people – such a weak reaction. They are even afraid to say the word “Russian” when talking about missiles that kill children.”
“Yes, the war must end. But to end the war, we must not be afraid to call spades spades.”
The Ukrainian Air Force wrote on social media on Saturday that Russian troops fired 92 drones into Ukraine overnight and were hit 51 times by air defense. It said another 31 decoy drones failed to reach their target, either.
Moscow Governor Denis Pushilin said a man was killed in the Russian-occupied Horlivka in the Donetsk region of Ukraine on Saturday due to shelling. Security officials told the Russian state news channel that they destroyed 28 Ukrainian drones in the Donetsk region overnight, marking the first time the occupied territory was targeted by such a long-range strike.
