WorthyNews: Russia Hits Ukraine President’s Town; Scores Killed and Inured (Worthy News In-Depth)

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By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

KRYVYI RIH, UKRAINE (Worthy News) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown plunged into mourning Saturday after at least 19 people reportedly died and scores were injured in Russian missile and drone strikes over the weekend.

Local authorities said the initial missile in the central city of Kryvyi Rih killed at least 18 people, including some nine children.

At least 72 people were injured in Friday’s attack, the youngest a 3-month-old, according to authorities, adding that about half of them remained in hospital, with 17 in serious condition.

“There can never be forgiveness for this,” said Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the city’s defense council. “Eternal memory to the victims.”

Several sources said the strike damaged about 20 apartment buildings, more than 30 vehicles, an educational building, and a restaurant. A car was seen burning near the strike site.

Speaking about his hometown, Kryvyi Rih, Zelenskyy noted on the social media platform Telegram that “the missile struck an area right next to residential buildings—hitting a playground and ordinary streets.”

He blamed the daily strikes on Russia’s unwillingness to end the war: “Every missile, every drone strike proves Russia wants only war,” he said, urging Ukraine’s allies, including the United States, to increase pressure on Moscow and bolster Ukraine’s air defenses.

‘HIGH-PRECISION STRIKE’

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that it had carried out “a high-precision missile strike” with a high explosive warhead on a restaurant where a meeting with Ukrainian unit commanders and Western instructors was taking place.

The Russian military claimed that the strike killed 85 military personnel and foreign officers and destroyed 20 vehicles. The military’s claims could not be independently verified. The Ukrainian General Staff rejected the claims.

A later drone strike on Kryvyi Rih killed one woman and wounded seven other people, officials said.

Elsewhere, one person died Saturday in the Russian-occupied town of Horlivka in Ukraine’s Donetsk region due to shelling, Moscow-installed Governor Denis Pushilin said.

Security officials also told Russian state news channels that they had destroyed 28 Ukrainian drones over the Donetsk region overnight, marking the first time that such long-range strikes had targeted the occupied territory.

Russian forces launched 92 drones into Ukraine overnight, with 51 shot down by air defenses, the Ukrainian Air Force wrote on social media Saturday. It said 31 decoy drones also failed to reach their targets.

But the missiles and drones that did hit their intended targets caused massive death and destruction, adding to fears in Kryvyi Rih. “I often can’t sleep at night because of the strikes. I took sedatives,” said Evelyn, who lives in the attacked city where she works as a pharmacist. “It was so scary.”

NOT FLEEING UKRAINE

Yet the 23-year-old told Worthy News she declines to flee her country as millions of others have. Instead, she wants to stay with her parents and her dog. “I recently walked with the dog in a park attacked by Russia,” she recalled.

A young man said he is hiding at his home in Kryvyi Rih to avoid being called up for the army. “It’s dangerous now because men are being caught and sent to war by force. I hide at home almost all the time,” he said in remarks shared with Worthy News. “Life here is very dangerous. I hope this war will end soon,” he added about the ongoing armed conflict that is believed to have killed and injured more than a million people, many of them soldiers.

As clashes were ongoing, President Zelenskyy on Saturday expressed disappointment in the U.S. embassy’s response to the Russian missile strike that killed 18 people in Kryvyi Rih.

Zelenskyy, who has been cautious about openly criticizing Washington since a turbulent White House meeting with President Donald J. Trump in February, wrote on social media site X that several embassies in Kyiv had condemned Friday’s attack and singled out Russia for carrying it out.

He noted that the message from the U.S. embassy did not refer to Russia in condemning the attack. “Unfortunately, the response from the U.S. Embassy is surprisingly disappointing – such a strong country, such a strong people, and yet such a weak reaction,” Zelenskyy wrote in English. “They are afraid to even say the word ‘Russian’ when speaking about the missile that murdered children.”

Zekenskyy wrote on the day that he met the leaders of the British and French armed forces in Kyiv Saturday to discuss the potential deployment of a multinational peacekeeping force to Ukraine, despite the reluctance of the U.S.

President Trump to provide security guarantees.

BRITAIN BACKS FORCE

Britain’s Ministry of Defense said the officials addressed the structure, size, and composition of any future “reassurance force,” while the chief of the defense staff, Admiral Antony Radakin, emphasized “that the U.K. would look to build on the formidable capabilities of the Ukrainian army and put them in the strongest possible position to deter Russian aggression.”

Sources said the weekend discussions were in preparation for another meeting between defense ministers in Brussels and the Ukraine Defense Contact Group on Friday.

Britain’s proposed 10,000 to 30,000 troops is considered a considerable effort for nations that shrank their militaries to a minimum after the Cold War but are now rearming.

Trump, who has been pushing for a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine, temporarily paused military aid to Kyiv and has repeatedly said that the country will never join the NATO military alliance.

However, Trump has recently shown impatience with Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying on March 30 that he is “very angry” at Putin about the lack of progress but plans to speak to him soon.

Trump’s inner circle has reportedly advised him not to hold a phone call with Putin until the Kremlin agrees to a ceasefire in Ukraine. Presidents Trump and Putin held a phone call on March 18 amid peace talks in Saudi Arabia to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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