Ukraine mourns 18 killed in Russian missile strike

Emergency employees carry the body of a person killed in a residential area by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine April 4, 2025. (Reuters)
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  • Sixty-one people were wounded, 12 of them children, Dnipropetrovsk governor Sergiy Lysak said

KYIV: Ukraine on Saturday mourned 18 people, including nine children, killed in a Russian ballistic missile strike on President Volodymyr Zelensky鈥檚 home city of Kryvyi Rig, as the region鈥檚 governor said it was 鈥渢he kind of pain you wouldn鈥檛 wish on your worst enemy.鈥�
Sixty-one people were wounded, 12 of them children, Dnipropetrovsk governor Sergiy Lysak said after emergency operations were completed overnight.
The missile attack on Friday, one of the deadliest in recent weeks, struck a residential area near a children鈥檚 playground, said Oleksandr Vilkul, the head of Kryvyi Rig鈥檚 military administration.
鈥淥n 7, 8 and 9 April, days of mourning will be declared in Kryvyi Rig for those killed as a result of yesterday鈥檚 terrorist attacks on our city by the killer country,鈥� he said.
鈥淐hildren, families, the elderly... Ballistic missile and shakedown attacks on residential areas and playgrounds... This is nothing less than a mass murder of civilians.鈥�
Pictures circulated by rescue services showed several bodies, one stretched out near a playground swing.
鈥淭his is the kind of pain you wouldn鈥檛 wish on your worst enemy,鈥� Lysak said.
Russia鈥檚 defense ministry said it 鈥渄elivered a precision strike with a high-explosive missile on a restaurant鈥� in the city 鈥渨here commanders of formations and Western instructors were meeting.鈥�
It said its air defense units had intercepted and destroyed 49 Ukrainian drones overnight.
The commander of the Ukrainian army retorted that Moscow was 鈥渢rying to cover up its cynical crime鈥� and 鈥渟preading false information鈥� about the target of the strike.
He accused Russia of 鈥渨ar crimes.鈥�
The Ukrainian air force said on Saturday Russia had launched 92 drones across Ukraine overnight.
Fifty one had been shot down and around 30 others had landed without causing damage.
US President Donald Trump, who said during his re-election campaign he could end the three-year conflict within days, is pushing the two sides to agree a ceasefire but his administration has failed to broker an accord acceptable to both.
Zelensky said the missile attack showed Russia had no interest in stopping its full-scale invasion, launched in February 2022.
鈥淭here is only one reason why this continues 鈥� Russia does not want a ceasefire and we see it. The whole world sees it,鈥� he said.
鈥淭he missile struck an area near residential buildings, a playground and ordinary streets.
鈥淧eople who are capable of that kind of thing aren鈥檛 human, They are bastards,鈥� Zelensky said.
Zelensky on Friday met the heads of the British and French military in Kyiv to discuss a plan by London and Paris to send a 鈥渞eassurance鈥� force to Ukraine if and when a peace deal is reached.
This is one of the latest efforts by European leaders to agree a coordinated policy after Trump sidelined them and opened direct talks with the Kremlin.
鈥淭ogether, we want to guarantee a lasting and solid peace in Ukraine, an essential condition for the security of the European continent,鈥� Thierry Burkhard, chief of the French defense staff, said on X on Saturday.
Burkhard and his British counterpart, Tony Radakin, also met their Ukrainian counterpart Oleksandr Syrsky and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.
Kryvyi Rig, in Ukraine鈥檚 central Dnipropetrovsk region, is about 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the front line, and has regularly been targeted by Russian drones and missiles.
Zelensky was born in the industrial city, which had a pre-war population of around 600,000 people.