A day of mourning has been announced in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih for Friday following a “criminal” Russian missile strike that killed nine people on Wednesday, the head of the city’s military administration Oleksandr Vilkul announced on Thursday morning.
Vilkul said that a further 32 people had been injured in Wednesday afternoon’s attack, 13 of whom were hospitalised. A search operation to locate survivors trapped under rubble at the site of the strike ended late on Wednesday evening.
Ukraine’s Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said that a residential area of the city had been struck and that police were documenting “yet another war crime” committed by Russia. The Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office announced it had opened a criminal case to investigate Russia’s “violation of the laws and customs of war” as well as its “intentional murder”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is from Kryvyi Rih, said the attack underscored Ukraine’s “urgent” need for increased air defence systems.
“Every day and every hour, Russian terror proves that Ukraine must strengthen its air defence with the support of our partners”, Zelensky said.
On Tuesday, The New York Times reported that US President Joe Biden had agreed to provide Ukraine with a second Patriot air defence battery.
While Russia has not yet made an official comment on Wedenesday’s lethal attack, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti cited an unnamed member of what it called Kryvyi Rih’s pro-Russian “underground” who accused Ukraine of staging the attack because it “needed a tragedy”.