Ukraine's capital city hit by missile barrage

KYIV, April 7 ------ Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the city was under missile attack with explosions in the Ukrainian capital, two days after a Russian missile killed 18 people in President Volodymyr Zelensky's hometown.  

Klitschko said paramedics had been sent to two districts in Kyiv, while the Ukrainian air force said missiles had entered the northern Chernihiv region. "Explosions in the capital. Air defense is in operation," Klitschko said on Telegram. "The missile attack on Kyiv continues. Stay in shelters!" He added that three people were injured so far, and said there was reported wreckage falling in two nonresidential sites. 

Across Ukraine, air raid alerts were also issued for the Kherson, Mykolaiv and Odesa regions. The attacks came at a time when United States President Donald Trump is pushing for a partial ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, more than three years into Moscow's full-scale invasion, while seeking a thaw in ties with the Kremlin. 

Weak reaction 

On Saturday, Zelensky slammed the US Embassy for what he called a "weak" statement that did not blame Russia for the deadly missile strike on his home city Kryvyi Rih. Nine children were among the 18 fatalities. Seventy-two people were wounded, 12 of them children, Dnipropetrovsk regional governor Sergiy Lysak said after emergency operations ended overnight. In an emotional statement on social media, Zelensky named each of the children killed in the attack, accusing the US Embassy of avoiding referring to Russia as the aggressor. "Unfortunately, the reaction of the American embassy is unpleasantly surprising: such a strong country, such a strong people and such a weak reaction," Zelensky wrote. 

The Ukrainian president took aim at the US Ambassador Bridget Brink after she posted a message on X on Friday evening that said: "Horrified that tonight a ballistic missile struck near a playground and restaurant." Brink, who was appointed by Trump's predecessor Joe Biden and has been ambassador since May 2022, added that "this is why the war must end." Zelensky wrote on Saturday: "Yes, the war must end. But in order to end it, we must not be afraid to call a spade a spade." 

Source: manilatimes.net