The number of fatalities of a Russian rocket strike in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih rose to 18, including nine children, said regional governor Serhii Lysak on Saturday.
Another 61 people were injured in the attack on Friday, from a three -month -old baby to older inhabitants. Forty people remain hospitalized, including two children in a critical condition and 17 in a serious condition.
“There can never be forgiveness,” said Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the city’s Defense Council. “Eternal memory of the victims.”
Kryvyi Rih is the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“The rocket hit an area right next to residential buildings – and met on a playground and ordinary streets,” wrote Zelenskyy in Telegram.
According to the local authorities, the strike damaged around 20 residential buildings, more than 30 vehicles, an educational building and a restaurant.
The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed on Friday that a high -precision rocket strike with a highly explosive explosive head held in a restaurant in which a meeting with the commanders and western trainers took place.
The Russian military claimed that the strike had killed 85 military personnel and foreign officers and destroyed 20 vehicles. The military’s claims could not be verified independently. The Ukrainian general staff rejected the claims.
A later drone attack against Kryvyi Rih killed a woman and wounded seven other people.
“Russia only wants war”
Zelenskyy accused the daily strikes against the lack of willingness in Russia to end the war. “Every rocket, every drone strike proves that Russia only wants war,” he said, and asked the allies of Ukraine to increase the pressure on Moscow and to strengthen the air defense of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian President also criticized the response from the US message in Kyiv on the strike. Ambassador Bridget A. Brink published on Friday on social media that she was “horrified” by the strike in Kryvyi Rih. “More than 50 people injured and 16 killed, including 6 children. That’s why the war has to end,” said the post office.
Since the Trump administration returned the support for Ukraine, Terence McKenna from CBC examines the puzzle of Europe in order to rise against Russia as a main defender and whether the European nations could ever completely replace the military and diplomatic power of America.
Zelenskyy, who had previously had a tense relationship with US President Donald Trump, described the post as “uncomfortably surprising” because he did not directly call Russia as the perpetrator of the attack.
“Such a strong country, such a strong people – and such a weak reaction. They are even afraid to say the word” Russian “when they talked about the rocket that killed children,” he said in a post in which countries such as Japan, Great Britain, Switzerland and Germany praised their “fundamental statements”.
“Yes, the war has to end. But to end it, we shouldn’t be afraid to call a spade as a spade,” he said.
The Russian armed forces started 92 drones to Ukraine overnight. 51 shot for air defendants, the Ukrainian Air Force wrote on Saturday on social media. Another 31 bird drones could not achieve their goals, it said.
Elsewhere, a person died on Saturday in the Russian city of Horlivka in the Ukrainian Donetsk region, said Governor Denis Pushilin, which was installed by Moscow. Security officers informed the Russian state news channels that they had destroyed 28 Ukrainian drones in the Donetsk region overnight, which marked the first time that the occupied area had been attacked by such long -term strikes.
