A RUSSIAN BALLISTIC missile strike on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s home city of Kryvyi Rig killed 12 people today, including three children, authorities said.

Zelenskyy said the missile strike showed that Russia did not want a ceasefire.

“There is only one reason why this continues: Russia does not want a ceasefire, and we see it. The whole world sees it,” Zelenskyy posted on Telegram.

Oleksandr Vilkul, the head of the city’s military administration, said more than 50 people were wounded in the evening attack.

“Twelve people were killed in Kryvyi Rig,” regional governor Sergiy Lysak said on Telegram.

He added later that this included “three children”.

“The number of wounded is constantly increasing. This information will come later. A car and garages are on fire,” he said.

Unverified video on social media taken from a distance showed a plume of smoke rising into the evening sky.

Kryvyi Rig, in Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region, is about 60 kilometres from the front line but has regularly been targeted by Russian drones and missiles.

A Russian ballistic attack on the city on Wednesday killed at least four people and wounded more than a dozen others.

The strikes come as US President Donald Trump’s administration pushes for a speedy end to the more than three-year war, holding talks with both Russia and Ukraine.

Moscow has rejected a joint US-Ukrainian proposal for an unconditional and full ceasefire, while Ukraine has accused Russia of dragging out talks with no intention of halting its offensive.

- © AFP 2025