Kryvyi Rih mourned as Sumy front shifted

What does a country do the day after it mourns? On 7 April 2025, Ukraine was in that position: the day of mourning declared for 6 April had just ended, and the toll from the missile strike on Kryvyi Rih was still being counted.

The strike hit the city in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast on Friday, 4 April. On 5 April the Ukrainian government declared 6 April a day of mourning after the attack killed twenty people, in what was described at the time as one of the deadliest strikes since the start of the invasion. By 6 April the death toll had risen to 20 dead, including several children, with 75 people injured.

A city under repeated fire

Kryvyi Rih was not a new target. Russian forces had carried out a series of artillery attacks and air raids on the city during the war. The April strike, however, brought a formal national response in the form of an official day of mourning.

Movement on the northern border

The same weekend brought word from another direction. On 6 April, Russian troops reportedly captured the village of Basivka in Sumy Oblast, as part of what was described as the 2025 Sumy Oblast incursion.

So 7 April opened with two realities side by side: a city counting its dead, including children, and a border region where Russian forces were reported to be advancing. The mourning of 6 April marked the loss in Kryvyi Rih, while the war continued in Sumy Oblast.