Ukraine says six people killed in strikes on Kryvyi Rig

Ukrainian officials say the death toll from, what they said, Russian missile strikes on the central city of Kryvyi Rig, the hometown of President Volodymyr Zelensky, has risen to six.

Oleksandr Vilkul, the head of Kryvyi Rig’s military administration, claimed on Tuesday that six missiles had hit five civilian sites in the city.

“Unfortunately, there are already six dead. The rescue operation is continuing,” said in a statement on social media.

Officials earlier said that three people had been killed in the overnight attacks.

According to Sergiy Lysak, governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region that includes Kryvyi Rig, 25 people were injured in the attacks. He said that some victims remained under the rubble.

Ukrainian authorities claimed Russian forces fired another missile on Tuesday morning, but was downed by the country’s air defenses.

“More terrorist missiles, Russian killers continue their war against residential buildings, ordinary cities and people. Unfortunately, there are dead and wounded,” Zelensky said on Twitter.

Russia launched what it calls the “special military operation” in Ukraine in February 2022, with the US-led NATO’s eastward expansion blamed for the war.

Russia views the alliance’s efforts to make Ukraine a member and to deploy missiles close to its borders as a direct threat to Russian territory.

The West has supplied Ukraine with tens of billions of dollars worth of various weaponry since the onset of the Russian military campaign.

Russia has denounced the West’s incessant arming of Kiev as counterproductive measures that would only prolong the conflict.