Ukrainian rescue workers are searching the rubble of a major shopping center in central Ukraine on Saturday in search of victims, following Russian drone strikes in broad daylight which left at least 16 dead and 130 injured. Nine people remain missing following this attack on Friday in Kryvyi Rig and followed by new deadly bombings in the country overnight, with the European Union denouncing a “planned terror” by Moscow.
As the two countries have intensified their attacks in recent weeks, at the cost of a growing number of civilian casualties, drones have started fires in a shopping complex billed by Ukrainian authorities as the largest in President Volodymyr Zelensky's hometown.
According to the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region where the city is located, Oleksandr Ganja, the latest death toll is 16, while emergency services have reported at least 130 injured, including 23 children. Among the injured, 63 people remained hospitalized overnight, including 29 in serious condition, the governor said, while nine people remained missing, with emergency services continuing their operations.
Volodymyr Zelensky denounced on “The attack drones struck in two waves – half an hour after the first strike and the fire, there was a second strike which targeted the emergency services,” the president said.
In a photo released by the Ukrainian General Prosecutor's Office, we can see the ravaged and burning interior of a building. A video, the authenticity of which has not been confirmed by AFP, shows a drone crashing in broad daylight on the roof of a building from which smoke is already escaping. “It’s a planned terror. Russia wants to make Ukrainian cities uninhabitable,” added the head of diplomacy of the European Union, Kaja Kallas, in the evening on X. These bombings demonstrate “the absolute and total depravity” of the war waged by Moscow, she added.
Four and a half years after the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, long-range strikes are increasing on both sides of the front, targeting a growing number of civilian installations such as logistics warehouses and causing more and more casualties. In kyiv, authorities once again called on residents to go to shelters overnight from Friday to Saturday due to the threat of Russian ballistic missiles and drones.
They then reported one death in a fire in a warehouse in the capital, while in Zaporizhia (south), a nighttime drone strike killed a man. For the fifth time, Ukraine is preparing to celebrate in a state of war on Monday the anniversary of its independence in 1991, without any sign of diplomatic progress allowing a glimpse of the end of the deadliest conflict in Europe since the Second World War are at a standstill.
On the sidelines of these celebrations, several European leaders are due to travel to kyiv as a show of support while a meeting of the coalition of volunteers bringing together kyiv's allies will be held with some participants in person and others by videoconference. The meeting will be co-chaired by French President Emmanuel Macron (who will be by video), German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and, for the first time, by the new British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, according to the Élysée.
According to a European official, it should address the question of strengthening Ukrainian anti-aircraft defense, while the country is increasingly vulnerable to Russian strikes, due to a lack of a sufficient number of interceptor missiles.
