Russian drones kill 15 people at a shopping mall in a central Ukrainian city, officials say

Russian drones targeted a shopping center in Kryvyi Rih, central Ukraine, on Friday, resulting in at least 15 fatalities and numerous injuries, according to authorities. The attack was part of a series of incidents across the country, with a further two separate Russian strikes in Mykolaiv and Kharkiv regions, leading to a total of 21 deaths.

Kryvyi Rih is the birthplace of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who labeled the assault as a "double-tap strike," implying an initial wave of drones followed by a subsequent one as rescue personnel arrived. "Such attacks are nothing less than terrorist acts," Zelenskyy stated on social media. Later, he pledged a response to the mall attack.

Oleksandr Hanzha, head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration, reported that the mall strike alone claimed 15 lives and left 130 wounded, including 23 children. Kryvyi Rih has experienced multiple drone attacks throughout the ongoing conflict, with the deadliest occurring in April 2025 when 20 people, including nine youngsters, lost their lives.

Russia capitalizes on Ukraine's scarcity of defensive systems. Earlier on Friday, a Russian drone assault on the Kharkiv region claimed the lives of two elderly women and wounded two others. In another incident on Friday evening, a Russian drone in the southern Mykolaiv region claimed four lives, including three children. Ukraine repelled 107 of the 135 drones launched by Russia overnight, according to the country's air force.

This marked the 24th hour since Russia unleashed a series of missile and drone strikes on Kyiv, resulting in 16 casualties. Ukraine has been targeted by extensive Russian strikes this summer, with a prior assault on Kyiv and its vicinity killing 17 people two weeks earlier. Last week, the United Nations reported that Kyiv was among the worst-hit cities in July, with at least 54 civilians killed and 202 injured.

Moscow's forces have recently escalated their ballistic missile attacks on Kyiv, taking advantage of Ukraine's scarcity of U.S.-made Patriot air defense interceptors, the only weapon capable of countering such missiles. Ukrainian drones struck a Russian oil refinery in Russia's Belgorod region on Friday, killing one person and wounding four others, including two in critical condition.

Additionally, the Ukrainian drone targeted an oil refinery in Perm, Russia, and the Marinovka military airfield in the Volgograd region, as reported by local officials. The Russian online news outlet Astra claimed the Ukrainian drone ignited a Lukoil-operated refinery in Perm, causing significant damage at an unspecified "industrial facility."

Moscow's Defense Ministry claimed it intercepted 325 Ukrainian drones overnight across 15 Russian regions, including Crimea.