Russian strikes kill 6 people in Ukraine, day after shopping complex attack

While a Ukrainian drone attack hit a house in southern Russia, killing two children and injuring their parents, office-holders on both sides noted, russian aerial strikes on Ukraine have killed at least six individuals and injured 26 others.

Key points

• Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the Kryvyi Rih Defense Council, remarked Russian forces targeted the city's largest shopping centre with jet-powered Shahed drones.
• Kyiv's Mayor Vitali Klitschko confirmed on Saturday morning that one person was killed in a warehouse fire in the Darnytskyi district after an overnight Russian ballistic missile attack.
• In the Kherson region, three others were killed and 13 wounded after Russian strikes damaged homes and apartment buildings, the regional military administration documented.
• A second wave hit roughly 30 minutes after the first on Friday, allegedly targeting emergency crews responding to the scene.
• On the other side, in Russia's southern Krasnodar region, authorities remarked two children were killed and two adults wounded in a Ukrainian drone strike.

In Donetsk region, Russian attacks left one person dead and seven wounded, including five in the front-line city of Kramatorsk, according to regional governor Vadym Filashkin, local media documented. While six others were hurt in separate drone attacks throughout the region, regional office-holders noted, as reports indicate, in the Sumy region, a drone strike on a house killed one man.

Though no casualties were documented, reports stated, in the city of Kherson itself, a drone strike set a shopping centre ablaze.

For context, the latest attacks coincided with ongoing rescue operations in Kryvyi Rih, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's hometown, where emergency workers searched the charred wreckage of the Sunny Gallery shopping complex after Friday afternoon's assault.

Notably, a second wave hit roughly 30 minutes after the first on Friday, allegedly targeting emergency crews responding to the scene.

Dnipropetrovsk regional governor Oleksandr Hanzha confirmed in an update on Saturday morning that the death toll in Kryvyi Rih had risen to 16, with more than 130 wounded, including 22 children.

Zelenskyy called Friday's attack "absolutely cynical and despicable" and an "act of barbarism", promising a swift response. "Attacks like these are nothing less than terrorist acts, " he posted on Telegram.

Al Jazeera's Audrey MacAlpine, reporting from Kyiv, remarked Friday's attack began "at 4: 30 in the afternoon when the mall is typically crowded, " with a second wave after "just 30 minutes later, with rescue workers from nearby regions called in to help".

"The attacks come as civilian casualties in the war continue to mount, with July marking one of the deadliest months for civilians on both sides since the full-scale war began. And they are another example of how attacks far beyond the front lines are taking their toll on ordinary individuals, " she stated.

For now, russian strikes kill 6 people in Ukraine, day after shopping complex attack remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.