A Russian missile attack on the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih has killed at least 16 people and left dozens wounded, Ukrainian officials have said.
Six of the dead were children, said President Volodymyr Zelensky, who grew up in Kryvyi Rih. The head of the city’s defence, Oleksandr Vilkul, said a ballistic missile had landed in 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 claimed its forces had targeted a meeting of a military unit and “officers of foreign countries”, and that up to 85 died. It provided no evidence.
The attack, early 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 regional leader in Kryvyi Rih, Serhii Lysak, said more than 40 people were treated for wounds, and the youngest was only three months old.
Military chiefs from both the UK and France met Zelensky in Kyiv on Friday to discuss plans for foreign peacekeepers to be stationed in Ukraine as part of a potential ceasefire deal.
But there has been little sign of a let-up in the violence.
Kryvyi Rih also came under attack earlier this week when a building in the centre was struck, leaving four people dead.
Earlier on Friday, Russian drone strikes on the north-eastern city of Kharkiv claimed another five lives.
France and the UK have accused Russia of dragging its feet on the Ukraine peace deal. UK Foreign Minister David Lammy told reporters at a Nato summit in Brussels that the Russian leader “could accept a ceasefire now, [but] he continues to bombard Ukraine, its civilian population”.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Russians knew the American position, “and we will know from their answers very soon whether they are serious about proceeding with real peace or whether it is a delay tactic”.
Kryvyi Rih is about 40 miles (70km) from the front line in eastern Ukraine and with a population of 600,000 it is reputed to be the longest city in Europe.
