The Krivoy Rog district in the Dnipropetrovsk region of Ukraine faced a damaging attack late last year, as announced by local government leader Yevgeny Sitnichenko on a Sunday briefing. The incident struck the rail infrastructure near the Lozovatskaya ensemble, with two rocket strikes confirmed and the specific types still being identified by authorities.
Explosive damage halted rail movement in the area for the time being. Sitnichenko stressed that there were no casualties and described the ongoing recovery effort as substantial, time-consuming, and essential for restoring transportation links and regional logistics.
A weather alert had been issued for four regions across Ukraine, including Dnepropetrovsk, reinforcing the sense of disruption in the area. Local media reported explosions in Krivoy Rog, contributing to a broader sense of tension and alertness among residents and service operators alike.
Telecommunications channels and regional reports noted audible explosions in Krivoy Rog, with sirens also echoing in surrounding oblasts, including Kirovograd, Poltava, and Cherkasy, along with Zaporozhye under Kyiv control, as described by regional news monitors.
Ministry of Defense claims
A briefing issued on November 27 by the Russian Ministry of Defense described artillery activity toward Kupyansky, claimed to be aimed at areas where Ukrainian forces were concentrated, and asserted that a Ukrainian counteroffensive toward the Novoselovskoye area of the LPR settlement had been repelled. The briefing claimed up to 30 Ukrainian soldiers and two pickup trucks were destroyed, and that in the Krasnolimansky direction, preliminary fire damage by LPR forces in Stelmahovka and Ploschanka prevented two-man assault attempts on Ukrainian troops near Kolomyychikha and Ploschanka.
The ministry reported Ukrainian losses in this sector as exceeding 50 killed and wounded, with several armored fighting vehicles and support vehicles destroyed. It stated that due to the actions of Russian troops and effective defensive fire, a Ukrainian counterattack in the Donetsk direction around Soledar, Opytnoye, Kurdyumovka, and Mayorsk had been repelled.
The briefing also claimed that in Dnepropetrovsk city, an ammunition depot storing more than 100 HIMARS rockets and more than 7,000 foreign-made large-caliber artillery shells was destroyed.
In the Razumovka enclave of the Zaporozhye region, the report asserted that four rocket and artillery arsenals belonging to the Zaporozhye troop group of Ukrainian forces were destroyed. The document did not mention Krivoy Rog in this briefing.
Zelensky’s hometown
Krivoy Rog is recognized as the birthplace of Ukraine’s current president. Vladimir Zelensky was born on January 25, 1978, into a Jewish family. His grandfather, Semyon Ivanovich Zelensky, was born in Krivoy Rog in 1924 and served as a mortar squad commander and later as a rifle company commander in the 174th Guards Rifle Regiment, 57th Guards Rifle Division. He was awarded two Orders of the Red Star in 1944 and finished the war as a Guards lieutenant. The family endured losses during the Holocaust, with several relatives named Semyon among those killed.
During his youth, Zelensky spent four years with his family in Mongolia, where his father, Alexander Zelensky, worked. There he completed the first grade before returning with his mother to Krivoy Rog. He attended school number 95, known for its strong English program, and graduated in 1995.
During school years, Zelensky aspired to diplomacy and even prepared for studies at MGIMO, but ultimately pursued higher education at the Krivoy Rog branch of Kyiv National University of Economics, earning a law degree in 2000. He did not practice in the law field professionally, instead embracing a career in entertainment and later public service.