UKRAINE - A Russian missile attack on the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih has killed at least 18 people and left dozens wounded, Ukrainian officials have said.
Nine of the dead were children, said President Volodymyr Zelensky, who grew up in Kryvyi Rih. Local officials said a ballistic missile had hit a residential area.
Images showed at least one victim lying in a playground, while a video showed a large section of a 10-storey block of flats destroyed and victims lying on the road. Russia's defence ministry later claimed a "high-precision missile strike" had targeted a meeting of "unit commanders and Western instructors" in a restaurant, and that up to 85 were killed. It provided no evidence.
Ukraine's military responded by saying that Russia was spreading false information to try to "cover up its cynical crime". It said Moscow had fired an Iskander-M ballistic missile with a cluster warhead to maximise casualties. The attack, on Friday evening, was among the deadliest on Kryvyi Rih since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, and comes as US President Donald Trump pushes for a ceasefire.
Zelensky wrote on social media that at least five buildings had been damaged in Friday's strike: "There is only one reason why this continues: Russia doesn't want a ceasefire, and we see it." The head of Kryvyi Rih's defence, Oleksandr Vilkul, said a residential area was hit. "The missile exploded in the air to injure more people," he said. "Children were killed on or near a playground." (BBC)
