A Russian missile strike on the Ukrainian president’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih on Friday killed at least 19 people, including six children, according to Ukrainian authorities. The strike also injured nearly 70 people.
Among the 68 injured was a baby as young as three months old, with the attack also damaging dozens of apartment buildings and six education institutes along with shops and businesses, said Oleksandr Vilkul, Kryvyi Rih mayor, on Telegram on Saturday, calling it a “tragic evening and night.”
“Another bloody crime was committed by the terrorist country. Rocket and massive Shahed attacks on residential areas and playgrounds,” the mayor said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky offered his condolences to the families of those killed and injured in his nightly address soon afterward.
“Many injured, houses damaged. The missile actually hit the area next to residential buildings – a children’s playground, ordinary streets,” Zelensky said.
Russia also targeted a power plant in Kherson with a drone on Friday, Zelensky said.
“Such strikes cannot be a coincidence – Russians know that this is an energy facility,” Zelensky said. “These types of facilities must be protected from any attacks, as per the promises Russia made to the American side.”
In a statement on Telegram, the Russian ministry of defense claimed the strike had targeted a meeting between Ukrainian and Western officers, describing it as “a high-precision strike… with a high-explosive missile on the site of a meeting with unit commanders and Western instructors in one of the restaurants in the city of Kryvyi Rih.”
“As a result of the strike, the enemy lost up to 85 servicemen and officers of foreign countries, as well as up to 20 vehicles,” the post claimed.
CNN has reached out to Ukrainian authorities for further information.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
