One month ago, Ukraine agreed to a full 30-day ceasefire in the U.S.-mediated talks in Jeddah, and Russia did not.
Russia has soon intensified its attacks against Ukrainian civilian infrastructure. Russian attacks on Ukraine have killed over 160 civilians in March alone.
According to the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission's (HRMMU) recent report, civilian casualties in Ukraine surged by 50% in March compared to February, with at least 164 killed and 910 injured. The primary cause of casualties was strikes using long-range missiles and loitering munitions.
The recent escalation includes deadly strikes on Odesa, Dnipro, Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Kharkiv and Kryvyi Rih.
"Russian strikes every day. Every day, people are killed. There is only one reason this continues: Russia does not want a ceasefire, and we see it. The whole world sees it," President Volodymyr Zelensky said following an attack on his hometown of Kryvyi Rih that killed 20 people, including nine children.
"Every Russian promise ends with missiles or drones, bombs or artillery. Diplomacy means nothing to them. And that's why pressure is needed — sufficient pressure on Russia so they feel the consequences of every lie of theirs, every strike, every single day they take lives and prolong the war."
Here are just a few of the stories of those killed in the brutal attacks.
Tymofii Tsvitok, 3-years-old
Killed by Russian missile in Kryvyi Rih on April 4
Amid the chaos and heart-wrenching screams, the small body of three-year-old Tymofii Tsvitok was gently laid on the ground. A combat medic desperately tries to detect his pulse.
"No, I can not hear it at all. Silence everyone!" a man says, as seen in the video posted by a local Telegram channel.
A brief moment of hope for Tymofii's family ended in tragedy.
The boy became the youngest victim of one of Russia's most brutal strikes on Ukrainian civilians — an April 4 attack on Kryvyi Rih in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.
Russian troops hit the city with a missile, killing a total of 20 people, including nine children. HRMMU reported that this was the deadliest single attack on Ukrainian children that they have verified since the start of the full-scale invasion.
Another 75 people sustained injuries, with victims ranging from senior citizens to a three-month-old infant. Thirty-seven of the wounded have been hospitalized, according to local authorities.
Hitting a residential area, the missile attack also damaged 34 apartment buildings and six educational facilities, as well as various shops, businesses, cars, and homes.
Little Tymofii and his grandmother were on their way home from the playground when the missile hit, the boy's grandfather Vitalii told journalists following the attack. According to him, Tymofii's grandmother was injured and hospitalized, and although the medics tried to save the boy's life, they were unable to.
"Tymofii was an extremely energetic child. He loved space and everything related to it. By the age of three, he could count in English. He adored animals," he says, crying.
"My wife is in the hospital. No one knows how she survived. Everyone who stood near her died."
Oleksandr Haranskiy, his 5-year-old daughter Nikol
Killed by Russian drone in Kyiv on March 23
After fleeing their home in the constantly attacked town of Orikhiv in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Oleksandra Haranska's family had hoped to build a peaceful life in the capital.
Russia didn't let them.
A massive Russian drone strike on Kyiv killed Haranska's husband Oleksandr and their five-year-old daughter Nikol overnight on March 23. Apart from the family, one more person was reported killed in the brutal strike, while ten others were injured, including Oleksandra and an 11-month-old child.
At the time of the attack, Haranska's family was staying in a guest house near the church they attended, family friend Diana Dudchenko told the Kyiv Independent. Being a member of the same church, Dudchenko's husband was called to help clear the debris in the early morning following the attack.
Dudchenko says that was how they learned the family had stayed there and that while Oleksandra survived, her loved ones were killed.
"She miraculously survived because her husband and daughter were killed instantly while she was thrown 30 meters away," Dudchenko says.
"They only found her later, three hours after the attack. She regained consciousness, was found, and taken to the hospital. It's truly a miracle because she had been in the same room with her husband," she added.
"They had a small honey farm in Zaporizhzhia Oblast," Dudchenko said. "But when the full-scale invasion started, they lost it all, as the village got occupied by the Russian troops."
The family had friends and relatives in Kyiv, so they decided to escape the war and start their lives from scratch. According to Dudchenko, Oleksandra instantly became an active member of their community, joining the choir and supporting local youth.
Before reuniting with his family in Kyiv, Oleksandr stayed in Orikhiv for a while, volunteering and supporting the Ukrainian soldiers and civilians, according to Dudchenko. They were kind, warm-hearted people who loved their little daughter dearly. She had been getting ready to start first grade.
Dudchenko said Oleksandra spent two weeks in the hospital with a shattered pelvic bone, an injured arm, and burns.
"Now she's beginning the recovery process. We're all supporting her — relatives and friends have come to see her because she was left with absolutely nothing."
Roman Malenko, 41, Olha Malenko, 38, and their daughter Uliana-Khrystyna, 17
Killed by Russian drone in Zaporizhzhia on March 21
There was a house filled with laughter and joy, home to a happy family of three — until Russia reduced it to ruins.
The drone strike on a private home in the city of Zaporizhzhia late on March 21 killed 41-year-old Roman Malenko, his 38-year-old wife Olha, and their 17-year-old daughter Uliana-Khrystyna.
According to local authorities, the strike also injured 16 people as well as damaged several apartment buildings in the city. A number of high-rises caught fire following the attack.
The family's eldest daughter, 21-year-old Viktoria, who didn't live with her parents, told Suspilne media outlet that she had planned to visit them that night — but something stopped her, and she ended up staying home.
She and her younger sister were texting just as the attack began. According to the report, Uliana-Khrystyna heard the drones being shot down very loudly, as if "above their home."
That appeared to be her last message to her sister.
Shortly after, Viktoria received a call from their relative saying that the drone hit her parent's building.
"I arrived there and saw them wrapping up my sister. They showed me photos of her — her face wasn't burned, it remained intact. I didn't see my mom at all. They say it's too horrific," she told Suspilne.
Olha Malenko was in the hospital for about 10 hours as doctors tried to save her, but her injuries proved fatal, Suspilne reported.
The family was buried in Zaporizhzhia on March 28.
According to the report, the family had many dreams and plans for the future. Roman, a construction worker, dreamed of buying a car for his youngest daughter. His wife Olha, who worked at a grocery store, hoped to open a shop of her own.
Their daughter Uliana-Khrystyna was studying to become a pastry chef, aspiring to one day make a name for herself in the culinary world.
