A Russian ballistic missile strike on Friday on a central Ukrainian city killed at least 14 people, including six children, Ukrainian officials said, as US and European leaders pressed Russia to accept a ceasefire in the conflict.

At least 50 people were wounded in the strike on Kryvyi Rih — the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky — in what the region’s leader Serhii Lysak described as an “assault against civilians”.

“The missile struck an area right next to residential buildings — hitting a playground and ordinary streets,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram.

Local authorities said the strike damaged about 20 apartment buildings, more than 30 vehicles, an educational building and a restaurant. They said emergency responders were at the scene and psychologists were helping survivors.

Zelensky blamed the daily strikes on Russia’s unwillingness to end the war: “Every missile, every drone strike proves Russia wants only war.” He urged Ukraine’s allies to increase pressure on Moscow and bolster Ukraine’s air defences.

“The United States, Europe, and the rest of the world have enough power to make Russia abandon terror and war,” he said.

The missile strike on Kryvyi Rih followed a drone attack late on Thursday on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, that killed five civilians. Emergency crews carried black body bags from a burning apartment building as onlookers wept and hugged in the dark.

Some of the 32 wounded, bloodied and in shock, limped out into the street or were carried on stretchers as flames shot from the windows of their homes. Civilian areas in three other Ukrainian regions were also hit in Russian attacks overnight, officials said. The Ukrainian air force said that Russia fired 78 strike and decoy drones.

Russia’s defence ministry said that its air defences destroyed 107 Ukrainian drones.

Russia has effectively rejected a US proposal for a full and immediate 30-day halt in the fighting, and the UK and French foreign ministers on Friday accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of dragging his feet in ceasefire talks to halt Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine.