Drones hit Ukraine: 18 dead, over 120 injured in shopping center and other attacks

Russian drone attacks struck multiple locations across Ukraine on Friday, resulting in at least 18 deaths and over 120 injuries. A particularly devastating strike hit a shopping center in Kryvyi Rih, the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, killing at least 14 people and wounding 121.

President Zelenskyy decried the attack on the Kryvyi Rih shopping center as "absolutely cynical and unacceptable." He stated that the offensive drones struck in two waves, with a second strike targeting rescue services that had arrived after the initial attack and ensuing fire. Zelenskyy characterized such assaults as nothing less than "terrorist acts" and urged the international community to respond with "real pressure on the aggressor."

The regional governor of Dnipropetrovsk, Oleksandr Hanzha, confirmed the drone strike on the city's largest shopping complex. Images released by the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office showed the interior of a building destroyed and burning. A video, unverified by AFP, appeared to show a drone crashing onto a building's roof amid rising smoke.

In the southern Mykolaiv region, four people, including three minors, were killed when an attack hit a store, a pharmacy, and a post office, according to Interior Minister Ivan Vyshivskyi. President Zelenskyy informed UN Secretary-General António Guterres via phone about the ongoing Russian strikes and the significant civilian casualties.