Vladimir Putin kills at least one child in latest horror strike on Ukraine (2025)

Russia's Shaded drone strikes on the centre of Dnipro lead killed at least three people, including a girl, 16, and an elderly woman, with five more kids among the 30 wounded

Vladimir Putin’s forces killed civilians including at least one child in a new barbaric strike on a city centre. The savage Shaded drone terror attack on Dnipro was in defiance of Trump administration’s calls to halt the bloodshed and seek a ceasefire.

The death toll was put at three, including a child, a girl, 16, and and “elderly woman”, as ten huge explosions rocked the city in 20 minutes. Some 30 were wounded including five children, one aged just nine months. The onslaught came as Ukraine also staged a massive attack on Russia - but in this case hitting for the second time in a day the Iskander-M missile base at Shuya in Ivanova region that struck Sumy in a Palm Sunday massacre killing 35 and wounding 119 - mostly civilians - at the weekend.

The Putin strike on Dnipro was described as “real hell”, with strikes close to the city hall. Mayor Borys Filatov said: “Many civilian buildings and my wife's [clothing] shop were destroyed.” He said: “Three people died in Dnipro, including a child. Thirty were injured, five of them children. Sixteen patients remain under observation in medical institutions. One is in serious condition.

"About ten apartment buildings and the same number of private buildings were damaged in the city. The building of an educational institution, a student dormitory, and a gymnasium were damaged. And also a food enterprise, a post office, a printing house, an administrative building, stores, and almost a dozen and a half cars.”

Ukraine continued to avenge Russia’s strike on Sunday which killed 35 and wounded 119 in Sumy. At least seven giant explosions hit Putin’s 112th missile brigade in Shuya - unlike the Dnipro strike, a military target. Initial reports indicated Ukraine had hit “hangars with missiles of the 112th Guards Missile Brigade”, according to Russian Telegram channel VChK-OGPU.

A giant inferno ignited from the Ukrainian drone strikes at the facility which houses Iskander-M missiles, of the type used against Sumy. Machine gunfire was heard as Russians sought to fight off the strike, the second in a day aimed at seeking revenge for the deaths in Sumy. Unconfirmed reports say soldiers were killed and wounded in the Ukrainian strikes. In Izyum, Kharikiv region, a 35-year-old man and a 32-year-old woman were injured in a Russian missile strike.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said of Ukrainian attacks to avenge the Sumy deaths: “We have something to respond to such strikes, and we will not simply leave the bastards who kill our people alone on this earth. We have every right to do so. It is absolutely fair to respond to the murderers in the way they deserve.”

He said: “Russia must come to terms with the idea of the inevitability of Ukraine's power. And a truly reliable peace can be achieved precisely when reality forces Russia to come to terms with our capabilities. Our drones, Ukrainian missiles, our artillery, Ukrainian shells, our equipment - everything that Ukraine produces - will protect Ukraine, the lives of our people, our state.

“I thank all of the more than 300,000 Ukrainians who work at our defence enterprises - here, in our state - for the sake of Ukrainian power. I am proud of our people.”

Polish president Andrzej Duda denounced Russia for “bloodthirsty imperialism” after Moscow threats against NATO states Poland, Lithuania Latvia and Estonia.

Putin spymaster Sergey Naryshkin, head of the SVR foreign intelligence agency, threatened the countries that they would be the “first to suffer” in a direct conflict between Russia and NATO.

“Russia, which is behaving aggressively towards NATO and implementing its brutal and bloodthirsty imperialism, has been attacking Ukraine for three years,” said Duda. Everything NATO does is a response to Russian aggression... NATO has never attacked anyone and does not attack, it is an alliance that exclusively supports security.”

He denounced Moscow for “redeploying its nuclear weapons to Belarus, brazenly bringing them closer to the borders of NATO and the European Union.”

Meanwhile, Britain is reported to have signalled its backing for the transfer of long-range Taurus cruise missiles to Kyiv if incoming German Chancellor Friedrich Merz makes such a decision.