Six children were among 14 people killed on Friday in a Russian ballistic missile strike on Volodymyr Zelensky’s home town of Kryvyi Rih.

The Ukrainian president confirmed the fatalities on Friday evening, adding that the missile hit a residential neighbourhood and damaged five buildings.

“As of now, 14 fatalities have been confirmed, including six children. My condolences to their families and loved ones,” he said.

Oleksandr Vilkul, the head of the city’s military administration, said more than 50 people were also wounded in the attack.

“The number of wounded is constantly increasing. This information will come later. A car and garages are on fire,” said Sergiy Lysak, the regional governor.

Video showed plumes of smoke, cars on fire, and bodies scattered across the pavement.

Kryvyi Rih is about 60 kilometres from the front line but has been the target of Russian missile and drone attacks.

The latest attack came after Russia launched a series of drone strikes on Kharkiv overnight, killing at least four people and injuring 35 others, including three children.

The strikes targeted residential areas in the city’s Novobavarskyi district, damaging several apartment buildings and sparking fires.

Rescue teams worked through the night looking for survivors. Ihor Terekhov, the mayor, reported via Telegram that four fatalities had been confirmed, with one body recently recovered from the debris.

US could ramp up sanctions on Russia

On Friday, the Trump administration warned the US would not facilitate peace negotiations forever if Vladimir Putin continued to drag his feet.

Moscow has rejected a joint US-Ukrainian proposal for an unconditional and full ceasefire, while Ukraine has accused Russia of dragging out talks with no intention of halting its offensive.

Speaking after his first meeting of Nato foreign ministers in Brussels, Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, said the US would know “in a matter of weeks” whether Russia was interested in peace.

Mr Rubio said Donald Trump was not “going to fall into the trap of endless negotiations” and warned the US could ramp up sanctions on Russia if it did not stop the war.

“Congress has already started working on a bill on sanctions and the pressure from the Capitol will already be growing. We will send our message to Moscow, and we hope that Moscow will be ready for peace,” the secretary of state said.