Russian double-tap drone strike kills 15 at shopping mall in Zelenskyy’s hometown

Russian drones struck a shopping mall in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih on Friday, killing at least 15 people and injuring 130, including 23 children.

The attack on the Soniachna Halereia complex, the city’s largest, came in two waves. The first set the building on fire. About 30 minutes later a second drone hit as emergency workers responded, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a native of the city.

Dnipropetrovsk regional governor Oleksandr Hanzha confirmed the death toll and said 29 of the injured were in serious condition, five of them children. A 14-year-old girl with a traumatic brain injury was transferred to a regional hospital. Rescue teams from four other regions joined the search for people still trapped in the rubble.

Zelenskyy called the daytime strike “absolutely cynical and despicable” and “nothing less than terrorist acts.” He said Ukraine would respond. Mayor Oleksandr Vilkul described the drones flying at extremely low altitudes.

The mall was busy at the time of the attack. Video verified by multiple outlets shows the second impact on the already burning structure. Russia has not commented.

The strike adds to a recent intensification of Russian air attacks. On Thursday a ballistic missile attack on Kyiv killed 17 people. Ukraine’s interceptor stocks remain critically low.