Death toll rises to 16 after Russian drone strike on Ukrainian shopping mall
LONDON -- At least 16 people have been killed and 130 others injured, including at least 23 children, following a Russian drone strike on a shopping mall in the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih on Friday, authorities said.
Rescuers continue to search through the wreckage of the mall, and the death toll could rise.
Powerful Russian "Shahed-type" drones struck the mall Friday while it was filled with civilians, according to Ukrainian authorities.
"People came to the shopping center for their ordinary business: to shop, to work, or to spend time with loved ones. For Russia, this makes no difference," Dymtro Lubinets, Ukraine's human rights commissioner, wrote on social media.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the attack was a so-called "double-tap" strike, in which second drone targeted the building after rescuers have begun responding to the initial attack.
Kryvyi Rih is Zelenskyy's hometown, and the Ukrainian president called the strike "absolutely cynical and vile" and vowed a response.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday Kyiv had opened "Pandora's box" with its strikes on Russian economic targets, saying that Russia would hit back at Ukraine's "most sensitive economic sectors," in comments to Rossiya-1 TV.
"The Kyiv regime set out to damage our economy. What did it do? It opened this Pandora’s box itself. Well then, expect a response targeting your most sensitive economic sectors," Putin said to Rossiya-1 TV journalist Pavel Zarunin.
Putin said that the strikes, which have jeopardized Ukraine's agricultural exports, would not cause global food shortages, because Russia would be able to replace Ukrainian exports, even as Kyiv has targeted Russian grain export infrastructure.
"We do face challenges regarding the shipment of our goods, but we will resolve these issues. Consequently, there will be no shortage on the global market," Putin said.
Ukraine escalated a campaign of drone strikes targeting Russian economic infrastructure, including oil refineries and online retailers' warehouses, seeking to destroy infrastructure it says is central to Russia's war effort.
Russia has responded with strikes against Ukrainian economic infrastructure, including Ukrainian grain exports via the Black Sea.
Civilian casualties in Ukraine have risen sharply this year as Russia has further scaled up its aerial attacks. Ukraine is struggling to defend against Russian ballistic missiles as American-made air defense interceptors have run out and Moscow is now also increasingly turning to jet-powered drones that are more difficult to bring down.
