9 dead as Russia, Ukraine trade fresh strikes after Moscow’s deadly shopping centre attack
At least seven people were killed in fresh Russian missile and drone attacks across Ukraine on Saturday, while two children died in a Ukrainian drone strike in Russia’s Krasnodar region, officials said.The latest strikes came a day after a Russian attack on a shopping centre in Kryvyi Rih killed at least 16 people, according to Ukrainian authorities.In Kyiv, president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said one person was killed and another wounded overnight when ballistic missiles struck railway infrastructure. Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had targeted a locomotive depot.In a separate Russian ballistic missile strike on the Kyiv region, which surrounds the capital, two people were killed on Saturday afternoon, local authorities said.Russian drone strikes also killed one person overnight in the Zaporizhzhia region, officials said. A daytime attack killed three more people and wounded 15, while three others were wounded in an attack on a minibus in the regional capital, also called Zaporizhzhia, Zelenskyy said.In Russia’s southern Krasnodar region, authorities said two children were killed and two adults wounded in a Ukrainian drone strike.The attacks came a day after Russian drones struck a shopping centre in Kryvyi Rih, Zelenskyy’s hometown. Dnipropetrovsk regional head Oleksandr Hanzha said early Saturday that the death toll had risen to 16, with nine people still missing and 130 wounded.Zelenskyy described the strike as a ‘double-tap strike’, alleging that an initial wave of drones was followed by a second wave as rescue workers responded. He said the resulting fire, which spread across 9,000 square metres, had been extinguished and rescue operations were continuing.“An absolute Russian atrocity. They’re just monsters. We will definitely respond,” Zelenskyy wrote in a video post on X.The latest strikes come amid an escalation in Russian attacks on Kyiv. Moscow’s forces have intensified ballistic missile strikes on the capital, according to the Associated Press, as Ukraine faces a shortage of US-made Patriot air defence interceptors, the only system in its arsenal capable of intercepting the missiles.Kyiv has meanwhile continued long-range drone attacks inside Russia, including strikes targeting energy infrastructure. Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces hit the Novokuibyshevsk oil refinery in Russia’s Samara region, about 1,000 kilometres from the front line.The Russian online outlet Astra reported that a Ukrainian drone also set fire to an oil refinery in Samara. Local officials confirmed damage at an unidentified “industrial facility” and an Ozon logistics centre.The violence follows repeated large-scale attacks on both sides in recent weeks, with civilians bearing the brunt. The UN said Kyiv was among the hardest-hit cities in July, recording at least 54 civilian deaths and 202 injuries.
