Rescuers Search Rubble After Russian Drone Strike on Kryvyi Rih Mall
Ukrainian emergency crews comb through a destroyed shopping center in Kryvyi Rih after a Russian drone strike killed 16 and wounded 130.
Emergency crews in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih spent Saturday picking through the debris of a shopping center destroyed by Russian drones a day earlier. The attack killed at least 16 people and wounded around 130, according to local authorities.
Oleksandr Hanzha, head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration, said there were no military or logistics facilities near the site. "It was just an entertainment center, Friday night," he said. "There's no other way to describe it than as a terrorist attack."
One injured woman, Olha Bondarchuk, described the moment the strike hit. She said an air raid alert had sounded and she was heading for the exit with her daughter and mother when the blast occurred near the cash desk. "We fell and then got up, and we didn't see people anymore," she recalled. "We intuitively ran to the emergency exit."
Hospital officials said nearly all of the wounded required surgery. Olena Klymovych, head of No. 2 City Hospital, said 22 operating rooms were in use at the time.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is from Kryvyi Rih, described the attack as a "double-tap" strike — an initial wave of drones followed by a second as rescuers arrived on scene.
The city has been hit repeatedly during the war. One of its deadliest attacks came in April 2025, when 20 people were killed, including nine children.
Friday's strike came just 24 hours after a Russian nighttime assault on Kyiv killed 16 people. The United Nations said last week that Kyiv was among the hardest-hit cities in July, with at least 54 civilians killed and 202 wounded.
Moscow has recently intensified ballistic missile attacks on Kyiv, taking advantage of Ukraine's shortage of U.S.-made Patriot interceptors — the only system capable of shooting down such missiles.
Meanwhile, Ukraine has carried out long-range drone strikes on Russian oil infrastructure. Zelenskyy said Saturday that Ukrainian forces hit the Novokuibyshevsk oil refinery in Samara, roughly 1,000 kilometers from the front line.