Deadly Mall Strike in Kryvyi Rih Followed by More Attacks
A Russian strike on a shopping center in Kryvyi Rih killed 16 people and wounded 130, including 23 children. The fire caused by the attack was put out across 9,000 square meters. Rescue efforts are still underway, with teams from seven regions and canine units helping to clear debris as State Emergency Service personnel search for possible casualties.
Overnight, a ballistic strike in Kyiv damaged railway infrastructure, leaving one person dead and one injured. In Zaporizhzhia, an FPV drone struck a municipal minibus, wounding three people. The following regions also came under fire: Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Sumy, Kherson, Chernihiv, and Mykolaiv. Residential buildings, energy and railway facilities, and civilian enterprises were damaged in these attacks.
"Sadly, 16 people are now known to have been killed and 130 wounded, among them 23 children," President Volodymyr Zelensky said as he offered condolences to the families of those affected.
Zelensky called the Zaporizhzhia strike "absolutely barbaric." He stressed that "every day Ukraine lacks air defense brings casualties that could have been avoided," and urged fresh supplies of ballistic interceptors and other missiles to save lives. Earlier, he had promised retaliation for the shopping mall attack, and reports said a repeated drone strike hit the rescuers who were responding to the fire.
The latest attacks are part of Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine, underscoring the constant danger to civilians and the urgent need to strengthen Ukraine's air defenses.
The recent attack on Kryvyi Rih is part of a broader pattern of escalating violence, with Russia launching more than 1,560 drones and 61 missiles against Ukraine within just one week. This surge in attacks highlights the urgent need for enhanced air defense systems to protect civilians from such devastating strikes. For further details on the scale of these recent assaults, read more about the extent of Russia's aerial attacks here.