Deadly exchange of strikes between Ukraine and Russia

A day after a Russian drone attack on a shopping centre in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih killed at least 16 people, Ukraine launched a large-scale drone assault on Russian military and energy infrastructure, while Russian strikes continued to claim lives across Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said one person was killed and another wounded when ballistic missiles hit railway infrastructure in the capital, Kyiv, overnight. Russia's Defence Ministry said its forces had hit a locomotive depot. In a separate attack, local authorities said two people were killed on Saturday afternoon in a Russian ballistic missile strike on the Kyiv region, which surrounds the capital.

Russian drone strikes also killed four people and wounded another 15 in the Zaporizhzhia region, according to local officials. Zelenskyy said three people were also wounded in an attack on a minibus in the regional capital, also called Zaporizhzhia.

In Russia's southern Krasnodar region, Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said two children had been killed and two adults wounded in a strike on the Sea of Azov port town of Yeysk. He said a fire had broken out at an unnamed facility at the town's port.

The governor of Russia's Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, said two people had been killed and 13 wounded in Ukrainian attacks, with another four wounded in the nearby region of Bryansk. In Luhansk, an eastern Ukrainian province almost all of which is controlled by Russia, Moscow-installed governor Leonid Pasechnik said two civilians, including a 16-year-old boy, had been killed and nine more wounded.

Kryvyi Rih attack aftermath

The latest attacks came a day after Russian drones struck a shopping centre in Kryvyi Rih on Friday. Dnipropetrovsk regional head Oleksandr Hanzha said in the early hours of Saturday that the death toll had risen to 16, with nine people missing and 130 wounded.

Earlier reports had put the death toll at six, with about 90 others, including six children, injured. Hanzha said 21 people were in serious condition, including one child. He posted a photo on the encrypted messaging app Telegram of black smoke billowing from a large industrial building.

Kryvyi Rih is the hometown of Zelenskyy, who described the attack as a double-tap strike, in which an initial wave of drones hit the area followed by a second wave as rescue workers responded. He said a second Russian drone hit the shopping centre half an hour after the first in a deliberate attempt to target emergency services. Zelenskyy called the attack "absolutely cynical and despicable" and said "attacks like these are nothing less than terrorist acts."

The fire at the shopping centre spread across 9,000 square metres (around 97,000 square feet). Zelenskyy said the fire had been extinguished and rescue efforts were underway.

Kryvyi Rih has been hit multiple times during the 4½-year all-out war between Russia and Ukraine. One of the deadliest attacks occurred in April 2025, when 20 people were killed, including nine children. The industrial city lies roughly 60 kilometres from the front line.

Escalating air war

The attack on Kryvyi Rih came as Russia escalates its air war on Ukraine. Large-scale Russian strikes have become a regular occurrence in the summer of 2026. Friday's attacks landed just 24 hours after Russia pounded Kyiv with scores of missiles and drones in a nighttime assault that killed 16 people. Seventeen people were killed in a Russian strike on Kyiv and its surrounding region just over two weeks before, and nine people died in another attack on Kyiv two days before that.

The United Nations said last week that Kyiv was one of the hardest-hit cities in July, with at least 54 civilians killed and 202 wounded. The UN also reported that the civilian death toll in 2026 had risen to its highest level since the first months of the war.

Moscow's forces have recently intensified their ballistic missile attacks on Kyiv, exploiting Ukraine's chronic shortage of U.S.-made Patriot air defence interceptors, the sole weapon in its arsenal able to shoot down the missiles.

Ukraine's drone offensive on Russia

Ukraine has shifted the war onto Russian soil through long-range drone strikes on oil facilities that have caused fuel shortages across Russia. Kyiv has stepped up its attacks on Russia in 2026 with long-range missiles and drones. Aside from hitting military and energy targets, it has also increasingly targeted Wildberries depots, burning billions of dollars' worth of merchandise belonging to the Russian online retail giant.

The Russian online news outlet Astra reported that a Ukrainian drone set ablaze an oil refinery in the Samara region. Local officials in Samara said damage was recorded at an unidentified industrial facility and a logistics centre for Ozon. Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces struck the Novokuibyshevsk oil refinery in Samara, some 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) from the front line. Ozon said work at its Samara region logistics centre in Chapayevsk had been halted after a strike that caused injuries. The strike on Ozon was the first on that retailer, after weeks of drone attacks on its larger rival Wildberries.

Russia's Defence Ministry said it downed a total of 457 Ukrainian drones overnight. In a separate report, Russia's military said it had destroyed 822 Ukrainian drones, 600 of which it claimed were heading for the capital.

Perspectives

Ukrainian government

President Zelenskyy framed the Kryvyi Rih attack as a deliberate double-tap strike targeting emergency services, calling it "absolutely cynical and despicable" and "nothing less than terrorist acts." He also reiterated that Russia has been using North Korean ballistic missiles on Ukraine and urged that European missile interceptors be mobilised to help Ukraine rather than "be allowed to sit in storage." He said more than 1,500 drones have been launched into Ukraine by Russia over the past week.

Russian authorities

Russia's Defence Ministry confirmed it had hit a locomotive depot in Kyiv and said it had downed hundreds of Ukrainian drones. Regional governors in Krasnodar, Belgorod, and Luhansk reported civilian casualties from Ukrainian attacks, with Kondratyev describing a strike on Yeysk that killed two children. Moscow-installed officials in occupied Luhansk also reported civilian deaths and injuries.