Several killed in Russia’s ‘double-tap’ drone strike on Ukraine mall

What the report says

Al Jazeera reports that a Russian drone attack on a shopping centre in Kryvyi Rih, the Ukrainian hometown of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, killed at least 16 people and wounded 130 others. Zelenskyy described the strike as a “cowardly and deliberate” attack. The report says the assault was a so-called “double-tap” strike, a term used for attacks in which a second round is launched after the first to target emergency workers and others responding to the scene.

The incident underscores the continuing risk to civilians and rescue crews in areas far from the front line. Kryvyi Rih is a major industrial city in central Ukraine and has previously been hit during the war, making attacks there especially notable because they reach beyond active battlefield zones.

According to Al Jazeera’s account, the mall strike adds to the wider toll of Russia’s war on Ukraine, where drone and missile attacks have repeatedly damaged civilian infrastructure. The use of a double-tap tactic, if confirmed, is significant because it can increase casualties among first responders and complicate rescue efforts. The article presents the attack as a deliberate targeting of a civilian site, though further details on the wider military context were not included in the provided text.