{"id":69215,"date":"2026-08-23T05:24:32","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T05:24:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/69215\/"},"modified":"2026-08-23T05:24:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T05:24:32","slug":"zelensky-vows-revenge-for-devastating-russian-strikes-that-killed-16-in-shopping-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/69215\/","title":{"rendered":"Zelensky vows revenge for devastating Russian strikes that killed 16 in shopping center"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed revenge Saturday for Russia\u2019s \u201ccynical and despicable\u201d double-tap drone strike on a shopping center<\/a> that killed 16 and injured more than 130 while nine others still missing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The crippling Friday attack \u2014 in Zelensky\u2019s hometown of Kryvyi Rih<\/a> \u2014 was followed Saturday by fresh Russian airstrikes that killed at least six more civilians across Ukraine including a 12-year-old boy and three children.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly Russia is the source of this war, the reason the war is being dragged out, and it deserves all retaliatory strikes and pressure for everything it does against life and people, against diplomacy, against partners,\u201d Zelensky wrote on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"UkrainianA rescue operation is underway following a strike on a shopping mall on Aug. 21 in Kryvyi Rih. x\/ZelenskyyUa\/<\/p>\n

\u201cOur response will be tangible \u2013 through our special services, through our intelligence agencies, through political cooperation with our partners, and, in particular, through sanctions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oleksandr Hanzha, the head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Military Administration, said that 22 children were wounded and two children are missing after the shopping center blitz \u2014 while 52 people, including 14 children, were still in hospitals as of Saturday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are 29 people \u200bin a \u2060serious condition, including five children,\u201d Hanzha said, adding that efforts were underway to help children trapped in the rubble, according to the Independent<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re doing everything possible to speed up \u2026 the search and rescue operation,\u201d he said on Ukrainian TV Saturday morning<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kryvyi Rih Mayor Oleksandr Vikul said that Russian drones were flying at low altitudes and described the assailants as \u201canimals,\u201d adding that \u201cthere are missing people who are not responding to calls.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rescue effort will continue for another two days due to the constant threat of further Russian attacks \u2014 and the sheer scale of the destruction, which included a 9,000-square-meter fire at the shopping center.<\/p>\n

\"AA man looks at a shopping center damaged by a Russian attack drone strike on Aug. 22, 2026, in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine. The Russian military attacked Kryvyi Rih\u2019s largest shopping centre, Soniachna Halereia, with strike drones. Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Ukrainian drones hit three targets deep inside Russia overnight Saturday, setting fire to an Ozon logistics warehouse \u2014 a first-ever strike on Russia\u2019s second-largest online marketplace \u2014 forcing the evacuation of\u00a0more than 500 workers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ukraine also struck an oil refinery in the same region and attacked an airbase in occupied Crimea.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The tit-for-tat strikes came as Zelensky prepared to join the Coalition of the Willing in Paris Monday to discuss post-ceasefire security guarantees, while Russian strongman Vladimir Putin continues to rely on North Korean troops in the war.<\/p>\n

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Pyongyang\u2019s forces now number more than 8,500 in the war, including roughly 400 drone operators, according to Western intelligence assessments. <\/p>\n

But Putin could seek another 50,000 troops, according to reports.<\/p>\n

Moscow\u2019s forces have intensified ballistic missile attacks on Kyiv in recent weeks, taking advantage of Ukraine\u2019s consistent shortage of American-made Patriot interceptors \u2014 the only tool they have to shoot down the missiles.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day that Ukraine lacks sufficient air defense means casualties that could have been prevented,\u201d Zelensky wrote on X<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cProtecting lives requires daily decisions and effective support from the world, and right now, new supplies of ballistic missile interceptors and other missiles can help.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed revenge Saturday for Russia\u2019s \u201ccynical and despicable\u201d double-tap drone strike on a shopping…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":69216,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[353,8,7536,9,3053,2246,7,21197,106],"class_list":["post-69215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-top-stories","tag-drones","tag-headlines","tag-kyiv","tag-news","tag-north-korea","tag-strikes","tag-top-stories","tag-ukraine-war","tag-world-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@news\/117143159698660736","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}