A Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian central city of Kryvyi Rih hit a residential area on Friday, killing at least 19 people, the regional governor said.
Nine children were among those killed, Serhiy Lysak said on the Telegram messaging app. He added that the attack damaged residential blocks and sparked fires.
More than 55 people were wounded, he added.
Some 30 people have been hospitalized, including a three-month-old boy with cut wounds, the Kyiv Independent reported.
'Diplomacy means nothing to them'
Russia's Defense Ministry, in a post on Telegram, said a "high-precision strike" had targeted "a meeting of unit commanders and Western instructors" in a city restaurant.
"As a result of the strike, enemy losses total up to 85 servicemen and officers of foreign countries, as well as up to 20 vehicles," the ministry said on Telegram.
However, Ukrainian authorities said that Moscow intentionally targeted civilian infrastructure to tank peace efforts pushed by the US.
Rescue operations are currently underway in Kryvyi Rih following a Russian missile strike. As of now, 16 people are confirmed dead, including six children. In Kharkiv, rescue efforts continued all day after a targeted Russian drone strike. A deliberate attack by six “Shahed”… pic.twitter.com/7TbgHQYfEI
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) April 4, 2025
"These strikes cannot be accidental – the Russians know exactly what they’re hitting," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on X/Twitter. "They know these are energy facilities that should be protected from attacks under what Russia itself promised to the American side.
"Every Russian promise ends with missiles or drones, bombs or artillery. Diplomacy means nothing to them. A ceasefire could have been reached by now, and it is Putin who rejects it."
“The Russian army carried out a ballistic missile strike on a residential district of Kryvyi Rih. Not a single military facility - just civilian infrastructure,” Ukraine's human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, said on Telegram, as reported by the Moscow Times.
What happened in the strike?
Local Telegram chats posted videos from the site, showing grey smoke rising in the sky, as well as bodies and wounded people lying on the pavement.
Original Ukrainian reports of the attack had the death toll somewhere between 12 and 18.
"There is a mass attack by Shaheds," Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the city's military administration, said on Telegram, referring to Iranian-designed drones. "There are fires at four sites from Shahed impacts."Regional Governor Serhiy Lysak said the fires had occurred in private houses, and he posted a picture showing a structure engulfed by flames.
"The missile struck a residential area with a playground," the Ukranian military's General Staff said in a statement on Telegram. "Through this latest violation of the norms of international human rights, the insidious enemy shows that it is in no way seeking peace but rather intends to continue its invasion and war to destroy Ukraine and all Ukrainians."