Russian airstrike in Zelenskyy's hometown in Ukraine kills at least 18

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preCharge News WORLD — A Russian missile strike in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih killed 18 people, including nine children, and injured more than 60 others, officials said Saturday.

The injuries from Friday’s attack range from a 3-month-old baby to elderly residents, of which 40 remain hospitalized.

“There can never be forgiveness for this,” said Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the city’s defense council. “Eternal memory to the victims.”

Kryvyi Rih is the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“The missile struck an area right next to residential buildings — hitting a playground and ordinary streets,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram.

Russia Ukraine War — Flowers and toys left on a swing seat to commemorate victims killed in Russia’s missile attack on Friday, at a children’s play area near the damaged apartment buildings, in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, Saturday, April 5, 2025.AP

Local authorities said the strike damaged about 20 apartment buildings, more than 30 vehicles, an educational building and a restaurant.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed Friday that it had carried out a high-precision missile strike with a high explosive warhead on a restaurant where a meeting with unit commanders and Western instructors was taking place.

The Russian military claimed that the strike killed 85 military personnel and foreign officers and destroyed 20 vehicles. The military’s claims could not be independently verified. The Ukrainian General Staff rejected the claims.

A later drone strike on Kryvyi Rih killed one woman and wounded seven other people.

The attacks were among the deadliest on Kryvyi Rih since the start of the war in 2022 and come as U.S. President Trump pushes for a ceasefire.

Zelenskyy blamed the daily strikes on Russia’s unwillingness to end the war: “Every missile, every drone strike proves Russia wants only war,” he said, urging Ukraine’s allies to increase pressure on Moscow and bolster Ukraine’s air defenses.

“The United States, Europe, and the rest of the world have enough power to make Russia abandon terror and war,” he said.

Britain and France on Friday accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of dragging his feet in ceasefire talks. The countries demanded a swift response from Moscow after weeks of U.S. efforts to secure a truce in the three-year war.

Russia has effectively rejected a U.S. proposal for a full and immediate 30-day halt in the fighting.

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said it would be clear “very soon” whether Putin was serious about reaching a peace deal.

“We will know from their answers very soon whether they are serious about proceeding with real peace or whether it’s a delay tactic,” Rubio told reporters in Brussels. “Now we’ve reached the stage where we need to make progress.”

NATO’s top official told preCharge News on Friday that Russia needs to move more quickly to end the war in Ukraine, and he’s been told by the U.S. that Moscow must “do more.”

“The ball clearly is in the court of the Russians,” NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said in an interview that will air on CBS News. “They are not moving fast enough, is my impression — including the impression I’m getting from my American interlocutors, that — that Russia really has to do more to bring this war to an end.”

Russian forces launched 92 drones into Ukraine overnight, with 51 shot down by air defenses, the Ukrainian air force wrote on social media Saturday. A further 31 decoy drones also failed to reach their targets, it said.