{"id":1825,"date":"2025-04-05T15:44:52","date_gmt":"2025-04-05T15:44:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/?p=1825"},"modified":"2025-04-09T08:43:38","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T08:43:38","slug":"nine-children-dead-after-missile-strike-on-playground-in-zelenskys-hometown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/05\/nine-children-dead-after-missile-strike-on-playground-in-zelenskys-hometown\/","title":{"rendered":"Nine children dead after missile strike on playground in Zelensky\u2019s hometown"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n\t\t\"Flowers\t<\/div>
Flowers and toys left on a swing seat in a wrecked playground in Kryvyi Rih (Picture: AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The hometown of Volodymyr Zelensky<\/a> is reeling today after a Russian missile strike<\/a> killed 18 people, including nine children.<\/p>\n

Heartbreaking images show devastated locals of Kryvyi Rih leaving flowers and toys<\/a> at a playground where Russian missiles struck yesterday evening.<\/p>\n

A 10-storey block of flats was also wrecked in the attack on the city where Zelensky grew up, leaving a further 61 people injured and 40 in hospital.<\/p>\n

This is the second time Russia has targeted Kryvyi Rih this week<\/a>, as hopes of potential ceasefire between the warring countries continues to fade away.<\/p>\n

Zelensky reacted to the bombing raid by saying Russia\u2019s \u2018meanness\u2019 must not go unignored.<\/p>\n

He added: \u2018My condolences to all the families and loved ones.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"A\t<\/div>
The family and local community in Zelensky\u2019s hometown were devastated (Picture: REUTERS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018The missile hit directly on a street \u2013 surrounded by ordinary homes, a children\u2019s playground, shops, and a restaurant.<\/p>\n

\u2018There is simply no deeper cynicism, meanness, or hatred for people than what Russia embodies now.<\/p>\n

\u2018It is very important that this Russian attack on people, on a city \u2013 and every such attack \u2013 does not go unanswered by the world.<\/p>\n

\u2018Stopping the killing of people, saving children\u2019s lives, and establishing lasting peace is only possible through strength and coordinated action from partners.\u2019<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\t<\/div>
9 children died in the playground strike (Picture: Polina Palamarchuk\/Suspilne Ukraine\/JSC \u201cUA:PBC\u201d\/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There were 20 apartment buildings and more than 30 vehicles damaged in the explosions.<\/p>\n

Kryvyi Rih sits about 40 miles from the front line in eastern Ukraine and has a 600,000-strong population.<\/p>\n

Russia, on the other hand, claimed Friday the attack was a high-precision missile strike on a restaurant where a meeting between unit commanders and Western instructors was taking place.<\/p>\n

Their military said 85 military personnel and foreign officers had been killed, but offered no evidence of this.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Map\t<\/div>
Kryvyi Rih in Ukraine (Created with Datawrapper)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kryvyi Rih was also bombarded earlier this week when a building in the centre was struck, leaving four people dead.<\/p>\n

Russia ramped up its barrage on Ukraine as British and French military chiefs met Zelensky in Kyiv earlier on Friday to discuss plans for foreign peacekeepers in the country.<\/p>\n

Chief of the defence staff Sir Tony Radakin posted an image of him meeting Zelensky in the Ukrainian capital.<\/p>\n

He said: \u2018Britain and France are coming together and Europe is stepping up in a way that is real and substantial, with 200 planners from 30 nations working to strengthen Ukraine\u2019s long term security.\u2019<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\t<\/div>
A residential room remains in ruins following the Russian missile strike (Picture Polina Palamarchuk\/Suspilne Ukraine\/JSC \u201cUA:PBC\u201d\/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While the two countries are pushing a \u2018coalition of the willing\u2019 to keep Ukraine secure in the event of a peace deal with Russia, tensions between the warring countries escalated over claims of attacks on energy infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Putin accused Ukraine of breaking a ceasefire agreement ending striking on energy targets.<\/p>\n

They claimed Ukraine hit Russian energy targets 14 times in the last 24 hours, allegations the Ukrainians called \u2018fake\u2019 and \u2018disinformation\u2019.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week Zelensky fired accusations at Putin over the ceasefire deal. <\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Firefighters\t<\/div>
A drone struck n Kharkiv in Ukraine late on Thursday (Picture: AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He said a Russian drone struck an energy substation in the Sumy region and artillery fire damaged a power line elsewhere in the country.<\/p>\n

Putin has often met peace negotiations with attacks on his adversary\u2019s hometown.<\/p>\n

In early March, just after the Ukrainian president agreed to a ceasefire deal, another Iskander-M missile struck central Kryvyi\u00a0Rih<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This bombardment killed a 47-year-old woman and wounding at least five other people.<\/p>\n

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

For more stories like this, <\/strong>check our news page<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Flowers and toys left on a swing seat in a wrecked playground in Kryvyi Rih (Picture: AP) The hometown of Volodymyr Zelensky is reeling today after a Russian missile strike killed 18 people, including nine children. Heartbreaking images show devastated locals of Kryvyi Rih leaving flowers and toys at a playground where Russian missiles struck […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":300,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-russia-ukraine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1825"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1825\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1833,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1825\/revisions\/1833"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}