Russian strike kills at least 18, including 9 children, in Ukraine

A Russian missile attack killed at least 18 people, including nine children, in a residential area of the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih on Friday (April 4), local officials said, but Russia's Defense Ministry said it had targeted a military gathering there.

The Ukrainian military denounced the Russian statement as misinformation.

The strike in President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's hometown was one of Moscow's deadliest this year in the conflict, launched with the Kremlin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

It occurred as U.S. President Donald Trump tries to end the war, damaged residential blocks and sparked fires, Serhiy Lysak, the regional governor, wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

The bodies of the dead and wounded could be seen lying on the pavement, one of them by a playground, in unverified videos circulating on Telegram, as grey smoke rose into the sky.

At least 50 people were wounded, the emergency services said, adding that the figure was growing. More than 30 people, including a three-month-old baby, were in hospital, Lysak said.

Oleksandr Vilkul, the city's military administrator, later said Russian drones had later attacked private homes in Kryvyi Rih, triggering fires at four sites. He said an elderly woman had died in her home and five others were injured. - report from Reuters