Russian Drone Strike on Kryvyi Rih Shopping Centre Kills 15

At least 15 people were killed and more than 130 others injured after multiple Russian drones struck a shopping centre in Kryvyi Rih, central Ukraine, on Friday, according to Ukrainian authorities.

Oleksandr Hanzha, the regional governor, said 22 children were among those wounded in the daytime Russian drone attack. At least 29 victims, including five children, remained in serious condition.

Images shared by Hanzha showed thick black smoke rising from a large building following the strikes. Kryvyi Rih, an industrial city in central Ukraine, is also the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Zelenskiy strongly condemned the attack, describing it as an "act of barbarism" and promising that Ukraine would respond. He said a second Russian drone struck the shopping centre about 30 minutes after the initial attack, alleging that the timing was intended to hit emergency personnel responding to the scene.

Calling the strikes "absolutely cynical and despicable," Zelenskiy urged the international community to hold Moscow accountable and described such attacks as acts of terrorism.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, another Russian drone strike killed at least four people in the southern Mykolaiv region on Friday, according to Ukrainian state media. Three children were among those killed, while a woman was reported wounded.

The latest attacks come as Russia intensifies its aerial campaign against Ukraine while the war approaches the four-and-a-half-year mark. A day earlier, a Russian ballistic missile strike on Kyiv killed 17 people.

Ukraine has simultaneously increased attacks inside Russia, focusing on oil facilities, logistics networks and other infrastructure considered important to Moscow's military operations.

The escalating exchange of long-range strikes underscores the continuing intensity of the Russia-Ukraine war, with civilian casualties mounting as both sides seek to weaken each other's ability to sustain the conflict.