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Russian Strike Kills 18 In Zelenskyy's Hometown In One Of The Worst Attacks On Civilians This Year

By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service April 04, 2025

A Russian missile attack that hit in a residential area of the industrial Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih on April 4 killed at least 18 people, half of them children, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

The attack on Zelenskyy's hometown was one of the deadliest against civilians this year, said Serhiy Lysak, governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region. Lysak noted that the rescue operation in the city is ongoing.

Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said more than 50 people were injured, and "this number is growing. They continue to seek medical help."

Lysak said about two dozen high-rise buildings, more than 30 cars, schools, and restaurants were damaged in the strike, which occurred shortly after 6:50 p.m. local time.

The attack came on the heels of an overnight drone attack on the eastern city of Kharkiv that killed at least five people, including an entire family, and injured more than 30 others.

Photos of the attack on Kryvyi Rih published on X by Zelenskyy show several bodies of adults lying on the ground, including one next to a children's playground. Windows on the nearby apartment buildings were blown out.

"The whole world sees it. Each missile, every attack drone proves that Russia seeks only war," Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram, noting the ongoing rescue operation.

"All Russian promises end with missiles, drones, bombs or artillery. Diplomacy means nothing to them," he said in his nightly video address.

The Russian Defense Ministry said it had targeted a meeting of military officials in the city and described it as a "high-precision strike" that 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.

The claim could not be independently verified.

Zelenskyy said that Russia also attacked an energy facility in Kherson in the south. Ukraine and Russia separately agreed last month at meetings with the United States, which is trying to mediate a cease-fire, not to attack each other's energy facilities.

US President Donald Trump has made ending the war a top foreign policy priority since taking office less than three months ago. Earlier this week, he reiterated threats to sanction Russian oil if Russian President Vladimir Putin was an obstacle to achieving peace.

Kharkiv Attacks

The drone attack on Kharkiv, the fourth on the city this week, triggered fires, regional Governor Oleh Synyehubov said on Telegram, updating the casualty count on April 4.

"An 88-year-old man died in hospital.... As of this moment, five people are dead and 32 are wounded," he said in a post on Telegram.

Preliminary reports indicate that an entire family was among those killed, regional police said after the bodies of a father, mother, and daughter were discovered beneath the rubble of their home.

The Prosecutor-General's office said its officials were working to identify those who were killed and that three children were among those injured in the attacks.

Mayor Ihor Terekhov said. Terekhov said Russian troops launched at least 14 strikes on Kharkiv in just 40 minutes.

In the southeastern city of Dnipro, three people were injured in a mass drone attack, the regional governor said.

And at least seven drones attacked targets in the Zaporizhzhya region, injuring one, the regional governor said.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said early on April 4 that Russian air-defense units repelled a drone flying toward Moscow.

"Emergency specialists are working at the site where fragments have fallen," Sobyanin said on Telegram.

Russian news agencies later quoted a representative of the federal transport agency as saying the capital's Vnukovo airport had been reopened for departing flights subject to further official approvals.

The agencies said two other airports had also been ordered closed but there was no immediate word on whether their operations had resumed.

With reporting by Reuters

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/kharkiv-ukraine-drone- attack-russia-moscow/33373185.html

Copyright (c) 2025. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.