The Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih has declared three days of mourning, starting with a vigil to remember the 11 children and nine adults killed in one of the deadliest Russian missile attacks on civilians, Reuters reported, BTA reported.
The strikes on Friday night in the hometown of President Volodymyr Zelensky scattered shrapnel in a densely populated area. The Ukrainian military said the Russians used cluster munitions.
"The use by the Russian Federation of long-range weapons against a densely populated area, without a visible military presence, demonstrates a flagrant disregard for civilian life," said the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk.
Mayor Oleksandr Vilkul said it was the deadliest attack on Kryvyi Rih since the start of the war. The city has been regularly bombarded by Russian missiles and drones. "Revenge will be inevitable because this is a crime without statute of limitations," Vilkul stressed. The mayor of the industrial hub, which had a pre-war population of about 600,000, added that the victims ranged in age from 3 to 79. There are still 33 injured, including 4 children, who are being treated in hospital.
Local clergy today held a memorial service at a playground near the site of the crash. One of the children killed was also buried today - a nine-year-old boy who reportedly died while playing on a swing.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the strike targeted a restaurant where a meeting between Ukrainian military commanders and Western instructors was taking place. According to the military department, 85 of the meeting participants were killed in the attack.
Kiev rejected this claim as disinformation.
"Even if the Russian authorities had information that there might be servicemen, the manner and circumstances of the attack could constitute an indiscriminate attack," the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said, quoted by Reuters.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov today reiterated that the Russian military is only striking military targets.
US President Donald Trump has vowed to quickly end the war in Ukraine. He is seeking to restore relations between Washington and Moscow after years of US support for Kiev, Reuters notes. Russia last month rejected a US proposal for a complete ceasefire. Kiev, for its part, agreed to the terms proposed by Washington, the agency recalls.