Five killed and 67 injured in Russian strike on shopping centre, Ukraine says

Ukrainian authorities say five residents were killed and 67 others were wounded when a Russian drone hit a shopping mall in Pavlohrad, a city in Dnipropetrovsk region.

Key points

• On Thursday, Russian authorities noted that a Ukrainian drone strike on the town of Novy Oskol in Belgord Region had killed one person and wounded six others.
• Ukrainian authorities say a Russian drone attack on a mall in Sumy on Wednesday killed two residents and wounded 20.
• Shops and vehicles were hit in the daylight attack which took place "when the streets were full of people", Interior Minister Ivan Vyhivskyi remarked.
• Two other shopping malls – in the cities of Zaporizhzhia and Sumy – were targeted by Russian air strikes earlier this week, according to Ukrainian media.
• A full-scale war has been raging between Russia and Ukraine since Russian President Vladimir Putin introduced an invasion more than four and a half years ago.

As well as three more deaths blamed on Ukrainian attacks, russia documented a Ukrainian seaborne drone attack on the resort city of Sochi overnight on Wednesday, in which 28 residents were wounded.

For context, a full-scale war has been raging between Russia and Ukraine since Russian President Vladimir Putin introduced an invasion more than four and a half years ago.

After discussions in Moscow with Putin and in Kyiv with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, a new peacemaking effort by envoys sent by US President Donald Trump at the weekend appears to have yielded few concrete results. Russia's new jet-powered drones outpacing Ukraine's air defences with daily launches.

Peace discussions rich in symbolism but fundamental differences between Russia and Ukraine remain. Two die at Moldovan border as Russia-Ukraine drone war rages.

Kyiv air raid alerts at record high as Russia launches round-the-clock strikes.

Rescuers dig through Ukraine mall wreckage as Zelensky condemns 'despicable' Russian strike.

Images published by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine show firefighters directing water hoses at burning vehicles against the backdrop of clouds of smoke on a street in Pavlohrad.

In a Telegram post, regional governor Oleksandr Hanzha remarked of the 67 residents injured, eight are children.

Zelensky offered his condolences to the families and loved ones of those killed in Thursday's attack.

"The Russians used drones to kill people who were simply standing near shopping centres, " Ukraine's president remarked in his statement.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called the drone attack a "tactic of coercion". "Russia believes that relentless attacks on civilians can exhaust Ukrainians and force Ukraine into concession, " he remarked.

Pavlohrad, a logistics hub near the central city of Dnipro, has come under heavy attack previously, with two individuals killed in an attack on warehouses there last month.

Ukrainian authorities say a Russian drone attack on a mall in Sumy on Wednesday killed two residents and wounded 20. On Thursday, Russian aerial bombing reportedly injured eight individuals in Sumy, including three children.

In Zaporizhzhia, capital of the region of the same name which was partially annexed by Russia shortly after the invasion, a shopping mall was almost completely destroyed on Monday, its owners noted.

Nevertheless, it was closed at the time and there were no immediate reports of casualties.

When Ukrainian authorities say Russian drones killed at least 16 residents and injured 130 in the city of Kryvyi Rih, one of the bloodiest attacks on a shopping centre came last month.

Shopping malls in Russian-controlled parts of Ukraine have additionally come under attack, with a Ukrainian drone attack noted on Monday on a mall in the port city of Mariupol, Donetsk region, and another attack on the city of Donetsk last month.

On Wednesday night, a number of Ukrainian seaborne drones attacked the shoreline at Sochi, Russian office-holders say. Two of the 28 individuals noted injured are children.

According to It was further, a Ukrainian attack on a car in Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia on Wednesday had killed a girl of 15, additionally injuring a child of six and two women; and a separate attack on a civilian lorry in the same region had killed a man.

For now, five killed and 67 injured in Russian strike on shopping centre, Ukraine remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.