On Aug. 21, Russian forces launched a double drone strike against the largest shopping mall in Kryvyi Rih — the Soniachna Halereya shopping and entertainment center. The first strike hit the complex directly, causing a fire inside the building. Shortly afterward, City Defense Council head Oleksandr Vilkul reported a second attack on the same mall, this one carried out with a jet-propelled Shahed drone. According to him, the drones flew at “extremely low altitudes.”
The death toll from the attack on the shopping mall has risen to 14, reported Dnipropetrovsk Regional Military Administration head Oleksandr Hanzha. 121 people were injured, including 22 children. According to figures provided by Vilkul, 29 of the injured are in critical condition, including five children. He also reported that eight of the injured, including one child, were in surgery. A 14-year-old girl with serious injuries was transferred to a hospital in Dnipro.
Russian forces struck the mall in two waves. According to statements by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, several Russian drones struck one after another. He had previously reported that approximately half an hour after the first impact (which caused a fire), a second strike targeted emergency responders. National Police of Ukraine chief Ivan Vyhivskyi added that at that moment, police officers and rescue workers were evacuating visitors, providing first aid, and fighting the fire. The majority of people and emergency service personnel, he said, managed to reach a safe distance before the second strike.
According to Vyhivskyi, fire engulfed roughly a third of the floor area of the mall, with the threat of further strikes complicating efforts to put out the blaze.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense had not commented on the attack on the shopping mall in Kryvyi Rih as of the time of publication.
