KYIV, Ukraine (AP) 鈥� Russian drones struck a shopping center in the city of Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine on Friday, killing at least 15 people and wounding scores more, authorities said.
The shopping mall strikes, plus two other separate Russian attacks in the Mykolaiv and Kharkiv regions, left a total of 21 people dead across Ukraine on Friday, authorities said.
Kryvyi Rih is the hometown of 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.
鈥淎ttacks like these are nothing less than terrorist acts,鈥� Zelenskyy wrote on social media. In a video address several hours later, he said Ukraine would respond to the shopping mall attack.
Oleksandr Hanzha, who heads the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration, said Friday evening that the attack on the mall killed at least 15 people and injured 130, including 23 children.
Kryvyi Rih has been hit multiple times during the more than 4-year-old war, with one of the when 20 people, including nine children, were killed.
Russia exploits Ukraine鈥檚 shortage of defensive systems
Earlier on Friday, a Russian drone attack on Ukraine鈥檚 Kharkiv region killed two women, aged 73 and 66, and wounded two others, said regional head Oleh Syniehubov.
Another Russian attack on Friday evening killed four people, including three children, in Ukraine鈥檚 southern Mykolaiv region, emergency services said.
Ukraine shot down or suppressed 107 out of 135 drones launched by Russia overnight, according to a statement from Ukraine鈥檚 air force on Telegram.
Friday鈥檚 attacks came just 24 hours after Russia pounded the capital of Kyiv with scores of missiles and drones in a nighttime aerial attack that killed 16 people.
Large-scale Russian strikes have become a this summer. Just over two weeks ago, a on Kyiv and its surrounding region killed 17 people, and in the city 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 injured.
Moscow鈥檚 forces have recently on Kyiv, exploiting Ukraine鈥檚 chronic shortage of U.S.-made , the sole weapon in its arsenal able to shoot down the missiles.
Ukrainian drones hit Russian oil refinery
A Ukrainian drone attack killed one person and wounded four others when a car was struck Friday in Russia鈥檚 Belgorod region near the village of Razumnoye, local officials said, adding that two of the injured were in serious condition.
Earlier, Zelenskyy said a separate Ukrainian drone attack hit an oil refinery in Perm, more than 1,600 kilometers (about 995 miles) from his country鈥檚 border. Also struck was the Marinovka military airfield in Russia鈥檚 Volgograd region, he said.
The Russian online news outlet Astra reported that the Ukrainian drone had set ablaze a Lukoil-operated oil refinery in Perm. Local officials said damage was recorded at an unidentified 鈥渋ndustrial facility.鈥�
Russia鈥檚 Defense Ministry said its air defenses overnight intercepted 325 Ukrainian drones over 15 Russian regions, as well as Crimea. The peninsula was illegally annexed by Moscow in 2014.
Later Friday, it said its defenses shot down another 211 drones.
Long-range strikes between Russia and Ukraine have escalated as troops continually fail to make significant battlefield progress, analysts say. Troop movements along the roughly 1,250-kilometer (780-mile) front line in eastern and southern Ukraine are severely restricted by large numbers of drones and ground robots that threaten infantry and vehicles.
In the past year, Ukraine has devised and deployed domestically produced for strikes deep inside Russia, capturing the attention and defense manufacturers around the world.
Officials in Kyiv aim to make the Russian public and pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin into negotiating a peace settlement. Putin has so far shown he intends to stop the invasion.
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