‘Little suns in the classroom’: Ukrainian city mourns children killed by Russian missile

KRYVYI RIH, Ukraine (AP) — Anger and outrage gripped the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday as it held funerals for some of the 20 people, including nine children, killed by a Russian missile that tore through apartment buildings and blasted a playground.

More than 70 were wounded in the attack last Friday evening on Kryvyi Rih. The children were playing on swings and in a sandbox in a tree-lined park at the time. Bodies were strewn across the grass.

“We are not asking for pity,” Oleksandr Vilkul, the head of the city administration, wrote on Telegram as Kryvyi Rih mourned. “We demand the world’s outrage.”

The U.N. Human Rights Office in Ukraine said it was the deadliest single verified strike harming children since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022. It was also one of the deadliest attacks so far this year.

Ukraine has consented to a ceasefire proposed weeks ago by Washington. But Russia is still negotiating with the United States its terms for accepting a truce in the more than three-year war.

U.S. President Donald Trump has voiced frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the continued fighting, and Ukrainian officials want him to compel Putin to stop. Trump vowed during his election campaign last year to bring a swift end to the war.

“We’re talking to Russia. We’d like them to stop,” Trump told reporters Sunday. “I don’t like the bombing.”

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov reaffirmed on Monday that Putin supports a ceasefire proposed by Trump but wants Russian conditions to be met.

“President Putin indeed backs the ceasefire idea, but it’s necessary to first answer quite a few questions,” Peskov said.

In Kryvyi Rih, 59-year-old teacher Iryna Kholod remembered Arina and Radyslav, both 7 years old and killed in Friday's strike, as being “like little suns in the classroom.”

Radyslav, she said, was proud to be part of a school campaign collecting pet food for stray animals. “He held the bag like it was treasure. He wanted to help,” she told The Associated Press.

After Friday evening, "two desks in my classroom were empty forever,” Kholod said, adding that she still has unopened birthday gifts for them.

“How do I tell parents to return their textbooks? How do I teach without them?” she asked.

Russian missile and drone tactics continue to evolve, making it harder to shoot them down, Yurii Ihnat, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian air force command, said on national television.

Russia's Iranian-designed Shahed drones have undergone significant upgrades, while Moscow is also modernizing its ballistic missiles, he said.

Only the U.S. Patriot missile defense system can help prevent attacks like the one in Kryvyi Rih, Zelenskyy said late Sunday.

He said he had instructed his defense and foreign affairs ministers to "work bilaterally on air defense, especially with the United States, which has sufficient potential to help stop any terror.”

Ukraine will send a team to Washington this week to begin negotiations on a new draft of a deal that would give the U.S. access to Ukraine’s valuable mineral resources, Economy Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko told The Associated Press.

Failure to conclude a mineral deal has hamstrung Ukrainian efforts to secure pledges of continuing U.S. military support.

Britain's Ministry of Defense and the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War, a think tank, say Russia's battlefield progress on the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line has slowed since November. But on Saturday night, Russia launched its biggest aerial attack on Ukraine in nearly a month.

Both sides are thought to be preparing for a renewed spring-summer military campaign.

In Kryvyi Rih on Monday, Nataliia Slobodeniuk recalled her 15-year-old student Danylo Nikitskyi as “a spark” who energized the classroom and helped organize school trips and other occasions.

Danylo died alongside his girlfriend, Alina Kutsenko, also 15. “They were holding hands,” said Roman Nikitskyi, Danylo’s father.

“If Danylo was going, half the class went too,” the 55-year-old teacher said. “That’s how loved he was.”

She choked up as she spoke of her feeling of powerlessness after the attack.

“You live through their joy, their sadness,” she told the AP. “And now, this pain, it tears you apart. And you realize there’s nothing you can do. Nothing to fix it. You just carry the pain forever.”

An air raid alert interrupted a planned memorial ceremony in the city — a reminder of the continuing threat for civilians.

The frustration hit home for Nataliia Freylikh, the teacher of 9-year-old Herman Tripolets, who was also killed in last Friday's attack. A minute of silence was held in the children's school, where teachers, classmates and families gathered. Nearly a hundred people stood grief-stricken together.

“Even mourning him properly is impossible,” Freylikh said.

From the school, the mourners walked to the church for the funeral liturgy for Tripolets — and bid a final farewell to the children who never made it home.

Novikov reported from Kyiv, Ukraine.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

A woman puts flowers on a memorial wall during the farewell ceremony for three schoolchildren from 41st school killed by a Russian Rocket strike in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, Monday, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Mothers cry at the coffins of their children Danylo Nikittskyi, 15, right, and Alina Kutsenko, 15, left, killed by a Russian missile, during a funeral ceremony in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

A mother cries at the coffin of her son Herman Tripolets, 9, killed by a Russian missile, during a funeral ceremony in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, Monday, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

A body of Herman Tripolets, 9, killed by a Russian missile lies in a coffin during a funeral ceremony in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

A girl walks at the playground where a Russian rocket killed 20 people, including 9 children, in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, Monday, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Mothers cry at the coffins of their children Danylo Nikittskyi, 15, right, and Alina Kutsenko, 15, left, killed by a Russian missile, during a funeral ceremony in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, Monday, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

A mother of Danylo Nikittskyi, 15, cries during a funeral ceremony of her son killed by a Russian missile in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, Monday, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Funeral workers bury coffins of children Danylo Nikittskyi, 15, and Alina Kutsenko, 15, killed by a Russian missile, during a funeral ceremony in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, Monday, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

A mother cries at the coffin of her son Herman Tripolets, 9, killed by a Russian missile, during a funeral ceremony in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, Monday, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, dead bodies lie on the ground after a Russian missile hit apartment houses and a playground, killing 14 civilians including six children, in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, Friday, April 4, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, dead bodies lie on the ground after a Russian missile hit apartment houses and a playground, killing 14 civilians including six children, in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, Friday, April 4, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, dead bodies lie on the ground after a Russian missile hit apartment houses and a playground, killing 14 civilians including six children, in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, Friday, April 4, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

Flowers and toys left in the play area to commemorate victims killed in Russia's missile attack on Friday, near apartment buildings, in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, Saturday, April 5, 2025. (AP Photo)

Flowers and toys left on a swing seat to commemorate victims killed in Russia's missile attack on Friday, at a children play area near the damaged apartment buildings, in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, Saturday, April 5, 2025. (AP Photo)

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the aftermath of this week's tariff whiplash, President Donald Trump is deciding exactly what he wants out of trade talks with as many as 75 nations in the coming weeks.

Trump is also figuring out next steps with China. He upped his tariffs on Chinese goods to 145% after China placed retaliatory taxes of 84% on imports from the U.S. While his 90-day pause on other tariffs caused the stock market to rally on Wednesday, countries still face a baseline 10% import tax instead of the higher rates announced on April 2.

“There will be a transition cost and transition problems,” Trump said at Wednesday's cabinet meeting. “But in the end it’s going to be a beautiful thing.”

Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, told Fox News’ “Fox and Friends" on Wednesday that the administration already has “offers on the table from more than 15 countries.”

Hassett said the next step will be determining exactly what Trump wants out of the negotiations.

“We have a meeting today with all the top principals where we’re going to present to the president a list of what we think his priorities might look like," Hassett said. "And I’m sure he’s going to, you know, have his own ideas about where to move things.”

Here's a look at where Trump's tariffs showdown stands:

With $28.9 trillion in publicly held debt, the U.S. government can still be beholden to the investors who lend it money. Trump might be willing to run roughshod over political rivals, judges he dislikes and a host of political norms, but the bond market showed Wednesday that it can temper his plans.

Going into Wednesday, the interest rate on a 10-year U.S. Treasury note was increasing and approaching 4.5%. That meant the U.S. government was having a tough time finding possible buyers for its debt, as market participants were wondering if Trump's tariffs had caused foreign buyers to sour on the U.S. government. Higher interest rates for the government could trigger even higher mortgage rates and auto loans for consumers, among other problems.

Trump on Wednesday said investors were getting “yippy,” but after his tariff pause he described the bond market as “beautiful.”

The S&P 500 stock index jumped 9.5% after the pause was announced. But reality crept back in on Thursday and the stock market slumped roughly 4% in Thursday afternoon trading. Sure, Trump was no longer going to put a 20% tariff on goods from the European Union, a 24% tariff on Japan or 25% on South Korea. But those nations still have imports taxed at an elevated 10%, Trump's new baseline as trade talks begin. And tariffs went up against China, locking the world's two largest economies in a trade war.

Plus, the trade war has expanded with China, and 25% tariffs still apply to imported autos, steel and aluminum. Imports from Canada and Mexico, the two largest U.S. trading partners, still face import taxes of as much as 25%. And Trump still plans tariffs on pharmaceutical drugs, lumber, copper and computer chips.

“While we appreciate the pause, the reciprocal tariff of 10% still represents more than double the tariff on imports of leather footwear from countries like Vietnam and Cambodia,” said Tom Florsheim, CEO of the Weyco Group, a footwear company. “Even at this level, it means a significant cost increase that will impact consumers.”

Because tariffs are taxes paid by importers, the costs generally get passed along to consumers and businesses in the form of higher prices and slower economic growth. The Budget Lab at Yale University estimated on Thursday that even with the pause, Trump's current tariff regime would pull down a household's average disposable income by $4,364.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that any trade agreements will be “bespoke” deals, rather than some overarching pact among a group of countries. Trump has laid out a series of grievances and goals regarding tariffs, but Canadian and European counterparts have said the actual asks from administration officials have been vague so far.

Trump has said he wants to eliminate the $1.2 trillion trade deficit, which means he no longer wants the U.S. to import more goods than it exports to other nations. He also wants revenues from tariffs to offset his income tax cut plans. The president has also said he wants the tariffs to bring back factory jobs and raise workers’ wages.

Aides have said that Trump wants other nations to scrap regulations and other policies such as Europe's value-added taxes that he deems to be a barrier to U.S. goods, an ask that would require other countries to change their laws. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has said the goal is to get other nations to “respect” Trump.

His goals might not necessarily be in line with what other nations want.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen posted on X that she's “consistently advocated for a zero-for-zero tariff agreement between the European Union and the United States.”

Lori Wallach, director of the Rethink Trade program at the American Economic Liberties Project, said Trump needs to be more publicly forthright about what he wants out of trade talks and tariffs.

“Absent transparency about what is being demanded, we could end up with the worst of all outcomes — a bunch of bad special interest deals, all of the economic damage caused by tariff uncertainty and no trade rebalancing, US manufacturing capacity or goods jobs,” she said.

The Trump administration views China as violating basic trade norms with how it subsidizes its manufacturers, takes intellectual property from its global competitors, suppresses wages for its workers and manipulates its currency.

The White House clarified that the 125% tariffs that Trump announced on Wednesday against China were actually 145%, once his previous 20% fentanyl tariffs were included.

Census Bureau data show the U.S. ran a $295 billion trade deficit last year with China. Because U.S. consumers and businesses are such a major customer of Chinese manufacturers, Bessent has said that gives the U.S. an edge in terms of inflicting pain on that nation's economy through tariffs. Of course, China has also spent several years preparing for a trade war.

Trump at his cabinet meeting expressed hope that he could get an agreement with China, though he didn't offer any specifics on what he was seeking.

“Well, we’ll see what happens with China,” Trump said. “I would love to be able to work a deal.”

Wendong Zhang, an economist at Cornell University, said that the Chinese economy might suffer a steeper hit to its gross domestic product than the U.S., but it's “likely to stick to its guns” due to internal public support and the ability to increase consumption domestically on goods that might no longer be going to the U.S.

Meanwhile, Trump will need to deal with voters who might be frustrated over the higher price of electronics and other goods resulting from the trade wars.

“Many products that the U.S. imports are predominantly from China: smartphones (73%), laptops (78%), video game consoles (87%), toys (77%), and also antibiotics for U.S. livestock production," Zhang said in an email. “Resourcing from other countries will take time and result in much higher costs.”

President Donald Trump departs after an event in the East Room of the White House, Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)