Missile strikes hit Kyiv as air defence responds to latest attack

He added that three people were injured so far, and said there was reported wreckage falling in two non-residential sites.

Across Ukraine, air raid alerts were also issued for the Kherson, Mykolaiv and Odesa regions.

The attacks come at a time when US President Donald Trump is pushing for a partial ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, more than three years into Moscow’s full-scale invasion, while seeking a thaw in ties with the Kremlin.

‘Weak reaction’

On Saturday, Zelensky slammed the US embassy for what he called a “weak” statement that did not blame Russia for the deadly missile strike on his home city Kryvyi Rig. Nine children were among the 18 fatalities.

In one of the deadliest strikes in recent weeks, a Russian missile struck a residential area near a children’s playground in the central Ukrainian city.

Seventy-two people were wounded, 12 of them children, Dnipropetrovsk regional governor Sergiy Lysak said after emergency operations ended overnight.

In an emotional statement on social media, Zelenskyy named each of the children killed in the attack, accusing the US embassy of avoiding referring to Russia as the aggressor.

“Unfortunately, the reaction of the American embassy is unpleasantly surprising: such a strong country, such a strong people – and such a weak reaction,” Zelenskyy wrote.

“They are even afraid to say the word ‘Russian’ when talking about the missile that killed the children.”

The Ukrainian president took aim at the US Ambassador Bridget Brink after she posted a message on X on Friday evening that said: “Horrified that tonight a ballistic missile struck near a playground and restaurant.”

Brink, who was appointed by Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden and has been ambassador since May 2022, added that “this is why the war must end”.

Zelenskyy wrote on Saturday: “Yes, the war must end. But in order to end it, we must not be afraid to call a spade a spade.”

“It is wrong and dangerous to keep silent about the fact that it is Russia that is killing children with ballistic missiles,” Zelenskyy reiterated in his evening address.

“It only incites the scum in Moscow to continue the war and further ignore diplomacy.”

Talks with French, UK military chiefs

The Ukrainian leader was born in the industrial city of Kryvyi Rig, which had a pre-war population of around 600,000 people.

Zelensky said the children killed by the latest attack ranged in age from a 3-year-old boy, Tymofiy, to a 17-year-old teenage boy, Nikita.

Oleksandr Vilkul, the head of Kryvyi Rig’s military administration, said three days of mourning had been declared on April 7, 8 and 9.

“This is nothing less than a mass murder of civilians,” he said.

Pictures circulated by rescue services showed several bodies, one stretched out near a playground swing.

Russia’s defence ministry said it “delivered a precision strike” in the city “where commanders of formations and Western instructors were meeting”.

The General Staff of the Ukrainian army retorted that Moscow was “trying to cover up its cynical crime” and “spreading false information”. It accused Russia of “war crimes”.

Trump, who said during his re-election campaign he could end the three-year conflict within days, is pushing the two sides to agree to a ceasefire but his administration has failed to broker an accord acceptable to both.

Zelenskyy said the missile attack showed Russia had no interest in stopping its full-scale invasion, launched in February 2022.

The president hailed “tangible progress” after meeting British and French military chiefs in Kyiv on Friday to discuss a plan by London and Paris to send a “reassurance” force to Ukraine if and when a deal on ending the conflict is reached.

Zelenskyy wrote on social media that the meeting with British Chief of the Defence Staff Tony Radakin and French counterpart Thierry Burkhard agreed “the first details on how the security contingent of partners can be deployed”.

This is one of the latest efforts by European leaders to agree on a coordinated policy after Trump sidelined them and opened direct talks with the Kremlin.

– Agence France-Presse