The aftermath of a Russian missile strike on a hotel in Kryvyi Rih, in Ukraine‘s Dnipropetrovsk region, 5 March 2025. Photo: EPA-EFE/ State Emergency Service of Ukraine
At least four people were killed and another 31 were injured when a Russian missile struck a hotel in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih on Wednesday night, Dnipropetrovsk region Governor Serhiy Lysak said.
According to Lysak, a fire broke out after the strike on the hotel late on Wednesday night, with 14 apartment blocks, 12 shops, a post office, a cultural centre and multiple cars also damaged in the blast.
Three men and one woman were killed in the attack, Lysak said, adding that most of the 31 injured had been hospitalised, one of which was a child, with 14 people in a critical condition as of Thursday morning.
First responders worked through the night to pull people out from under the rubble, with 19 people rescued as of Thursday morning, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine said.
The head of Kryvyi Rih’s military administration Oleksandr Vilkul announced that Friday would be a day of mourning in the city after a “difficult and tragic night”, and said that a humanitarian aid centre had been set up near the site of the attack.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, a Kryvyi Rih native, said that there must be “no pause in the pressure on Russia to stop this war and terror against life”, and said that among the guests staying at the hotel had been a team of international volunteers from a humanitarian organisation, which had managed to escape.
According to Ukraine’s Air Force, Russia launched two ballistic missiles and 112 drones — including Shahed attack drones and decoy drones — at nine Ukrainian regions overnight, though the country’s air defences downed 68 of the drones, while a further 43 failed to reach their targets.
The attack on Kryvyi Rih came just hours after the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak announced that a meeting between Ukrainian and US delegations to discuss ways to end the war would take place in the “near future” as Kyiv seeks to mend brittle relations with the Trump administration following an extraordinary diplomatic meltdown at the White House on Friday that led to the suspension of all US military aid to Ukraine.
In an address to Congress on Tuesday, Trump signalled a potential rapprochement with Kyiv by reading aloud excerpts from a letter written to him by Zelensky, adding that he had also received “strong signals” from Moscow that Russia was ready for peace.
