Russian drones struck a shopping center in the city of Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine on Friday, killing 14 people and wounding scores of others, authorities said, reports BritPanorama.
The city is the hometown of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who described the attack as a double-tap strike, in which an initial wave of drones hit the area, followed by a second wave as rescue workers responded.
“Attacks like these are nothing less than terrorist acts,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media. In a video address several hours later, he also said that Ukraine would respond to the shopping mall attack.
Local administration head Oleksandr Vilkul put the death toll at 14, adding that 121 people were injured, including 22 children. He stated that the rescue operation was ongoing.
Kryvyi Rih has been hit multiple times during the more than four-year-old war, with one of the deadliest occurrences in April 2025, when 20 people, including nine children, were killed.
Friday’s attack came just 24 hours after Russia pounded the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv with scores of missiles and drones in a nighttime aerial assault that killed at least 16 people.
Russia exploits Ukraine’s shortage of defensive systems
Moscow’s forces have intensified their ballistic missile attacks on Kyiv in recent months, exploiting Ukraine’s chronic shortage of U.S.-made Patriot air defense interceptors, the sole weapon in its arsenal capable of intercepting the missiles.
Large-scale Russian strikes have become a regular occurrence this summer. Just over two weeks ago, a Russian attack on Kyiv and its surrounding region killed 17 people, while nine were killed in the city two days prior. The United Nations stated last week that Kyiv was one of the hardest-hit cities in July, with at least 54 civilians killed and 202 injured.
Earlier on Friday, a Russian drone attack on Ukraine’s Kharkiv region resulted in the deaths of two women, aged 73 and 66, and wounded two others, said regional head Oleh Syniehubov.
Ukraine reported that it shot down or suppressed 107 out of 135 drones launched by Russia overnight, according to a statement from Ukraine’s air force on Telegram.
Ukrainian drones hit Russian oil refinery
A Ukrainian drone attack killed one person and wounded four others when a car was struck Friday in Russia’s Belgorod region near the village of Razumnoye, local officials said, noting that two of the injured were in serious condition.
Earlier, Zelenskyy stated that a separate Ukrainian drone attack hit an oil refinery in Perm, more than 1,600 kilometers from Ukraine’s border. The Marinovka military airfield in Russia’s Volgograd region was also targeted, he added.
Russian online news outlet Astra reported that the Ukrainian drone had ignited a fire at a Lukoil-operated oil refinery in Perm. Local officials mentioned damage was recorded at an unspecified “industrial facility.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry indicated that its air defenses had intercepted 325 Ukrainian drones over 15 regions, including Crimea. The peninsula was illegally annexed by Moscow in 2014.
Later on Friday, the ministry reported that its defenses had shot down an additional 211 drones.
Long-range strikes between Russia and Ukraine have escalated as troops have struggled to achieve significant battlefield progress, analysts suggest. Movement along the roughly 1,250-kilometer front line in eastern and southern Ukraine is severely restricted by numerous drones and ground robots threatening infantry and vehicles.
In the past year, Ukraine has developed and deployed domestically produced long-range drones for strikes deep inside Russia, garnering worldwide attention from governments and defense manufacturers.
Officials in Kyiv aim to make the Russian public acutely aware of the war’s consequences and to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin into negotiations for peace. So far, Putin has shown no indication that he intends to halt the invasion.
