Russian double-tap drone strike kills 15 in Ukrainian mall, officials say
BBC Homepage
Skip to content
Accessibility Help
Your account
Home
News
Sport
Earth
Reel
Worklife
Travel
Culture
Future
Music
TV
Weather
Sounds
BBC News
Home
Climate
World
UK
Business
Tech
Science
Entertainment & Arts
Health
In Pictures
More
BBC Verify
Newsbeat
World
Africa
Asia
Australia
Europe
Latin America
Middle East
US & Canada
Russian double-tap drone strike kills 15 in Ukrainian mall, officials say
Image source:
Oleksandr Hanzha / Dnipropetrovsk regional administration
Image caption:
A number of people are reported to be trapped in the rubble of the shopping centre in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih
By Jaroslav Lukiv
Published 21 August 2026, 19:23 BST
Updated 3 minutes ago
At least 15 people have been killed in a Russian double-tap drone strike on a shopping centre in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, local officials have said. Another 130 people – including 23 children – were injured. More people are also reported to be trapped in the rubble.
President Volodymyr Zelensky described the "absolutely cynical and despicable" daytime attack as carried out in "two waves", with the second strike targeting emergency workers at the scene.
Dramatic footage, verified by the BBC, shows the second drone hitting the already burning shopping centre in the Dnipropetrovsk region. Russia’s military has not commented.
Dnipropetrovsk regional head Oleksandr Hanzha said on Friday evening that there were now 15 confirmed fatalities, including two people who died later in hospital. He added that 130 people were injured, including 29 in a serious condition. There are fears the death toll will rise further.
Rescuers teams from four other Ukrainian regions are being urgently deployed to help search for survivors.
Earlier in the day, Kryvyi Rih Mayor Oleksandr Vilkul said the Russian drones were flying at "extremely low altitudes", describing the attackers as "animals". He added: "There are missing people who are not responding to calls."
This attack comes a day after 17 people were killed and more than 40 injured in a major Russian missile and drone attack on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv. Blocks of flats and warehouses were struck overnight across the city, local officials said. A children’s hospital and school were also damaged.
Earlier on Friday, Ukraine’s military said it carried out strikes on an oil refinery and a military airfield deep inside Russia.
Ukraine has in recent months intensified attacks on Russian energy facilities, as well as on warehouses of the country’s largest online retailer Wildberries. Kyiv describes them as legitimate targets because they help finance Russia’s war.
Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and currently Moscow controls about a fifth of Ukrainian territory in the south-east.
