At least 18 people were killed and more than 120 others injured in Russian drone and missile strikes across Ukraine on Friday, including an attack on a shopping centre in Kryvyi Rih, the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Oleksandr Ganja, said drones struck the shopping centre in Kryvyi Rih, causing a major fire that engulfed several shops. Initial reports indicated that 14 people were killed and 121 others injured.
President Zelensky condemned what he described as a deliberate and unjustified attack on a commercial centre used by ordinary civilians in Kryvyi Rih, a central Ukrainian city where he was born.
The mayor of Kryvyi Rih said the facility was the largest shopping centre in the city.
Zelensky said the attack was carried out in two waves. The first drones struck the area, followed by another attack about 30 minutes later, which he said appeared to target rescuers and emergency responders.
He described such attacks as acts of terrorism and called on the international community to increase pressure on those responsible.
Elsewhere, four people, including three children, were killed in Ukraine’s southern Mykolaiv region after a missile strike sparked fires in a shop, pharmacy and post office.
Zelensky also said he had spoken with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres about the continuing Russian attacks and the growing civilian casualties caused by the war.
