Russian Strike on Ukraine Leader’s Home City Kills Four

A Russian ballistic missile strike killed at least four people and wounded nine others in Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s home city of Kryvyi Rih on Wednesday, authorities said. 

The strike followed an overnight drone barrage on the regions of Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv, which killed one and wounded a dozen others, according to officials.

The head of Kryvyi Rih’s military administration, Oleksandr Vikul, said Russia attacked civilian infrastructure with a ballistic missile, sparking a large fire, and that a rescue operation was underway.

An unverified social media video from the scene showed fire and smoke rising from a damaged industrial building and debris laying around.

“The death toll in Kryvyi Rih has risen to four,” Dnipropetrovsk regional governor Sergiy Lysak said.

Among the wounded were a 29-year-old woman and men aged 35 and 41, he added.

Russia and Ukraine have stepped up aerial attacks even as US President Donald Trump pushes the Kremlin and Kyiv to agree to a ceasefire after more than three years of costly fighting.

Earlier Wednesday, a 45-year-old man was killed when a Russian strike hit cars parked outside a house in Zaporizhzhia, the head of the Ukrainian region’s military administration Ivan Federov said on Telegram.

In Kharkiv, five people were wounded in drone strikes, head of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration Oleg Syniegubov said.

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An AFP reporter saw firefighters hosing down smoke from a building in Kharkiv, where a blaze was raging and black smoke billowed from windows.

Zelensky said earlier Russia had launched 74 drones in total at targets across Ukraine.

The “systemic” Russian attacks, he added, showed the Kremlin “despises the diplomatic efforts” to halt the war.

“Putin does not even want to ensure a partial ceasefire. What’s needed is new and tangible pressure on Russia to put this war on a path towards ending,” he added.