KYIV: At least two people have been killed in fresh Russian strikes on Ukraine, a day after a drone attack on a shopping centre in Kryvyi Rih killed 16 people and left nine others missing.
One person was killed in a warehouse fire in Kyiv following a ballistic missile alert, while another was killed in a Russian drone strike on the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, Ukrainian officials said.
Russia’s defence ministry said it had carried out large-scale strikes targeting transport infrastructure and warehouses.
Kryvyi Rih Attack
The latest strikes followed Friday’s deadly attack on Kryvyi Rih’s largest shopping centre in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the attack as “absolutely cynical and despicable”, saying the shopping centre was struck in two waves, with the second attack hitting emergency workers responding to the first strike.
Dramatic footage verified by the BBC showed a second drone hitting the shopping centre as it was already on fire. Russia’s military has not commented on the attack.
At least 130 people, including 23 children, were injured. Twenty-nine of those injured were reported to be in serious condition.
The death toll reached 16 on Saturday after another body was recovered from the rubble, according to Dnipropetrovsk regional head Oleksandr Hanzha.
Nine people, including two children, remain missing.
Rescue teams from four other Ukrainian regions have been sent to assist with the search for survivors.
Kryvyi Rih Mayor Oleksandr Vilkul said the Russian drones had been flying at “extremely low altitudes” and that some missing people were not responding to calls.
More Attacks Across Ukraine
In Kyiv, a fire broke out at a warehouse in the Darnytskyi district early on Saturday after a ballistic missile alert.
The city’s military administration said one person had been killed and several others injured.
In Zaporizhzhia, a Russian drone strike killed at least one man and injured four people, regional governor Ivan Fedorov said.
Four people, including three children, were also killed in separate Russian attacks in the southern Mykolaiv region on Friday, while two others were killed in the north-eastern Kharkiv region, local officials said.
On Thursday, 17 people were killed and more than 40 injured in a major Russian missile and drone attack on Kyiv.
Ukraine Strikes Russia
Ukraine has also intensified attacks on Russian territory in recent months, particularly against energy facilities and military sites.
The Ukrainian military said on Friday that it had struck an oil refinery and a military airfield deep inside Russia.
Kyiv says Russian energy facilities and other targets linked to the war effort are legitimate targets because they help finance Russia’s invasion.
Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and currently controls about a fifth of Ukrainian territory, mainly in the south-east.
