At least 5 killed, 67 injured in Russian strike on Ukraine shopping centre

Ukrainian officials said at least five people were killed and 67 others were wounded when a Russian drone hit a shopping mall in Pavlohrad, a city in Dnipropetrovsk region.

Shops and vehicles were hit in the daylight attack which took place "when the streets were full of people", Interior Minister Ivan Vyhivskyi said, according to BBC.

Two other shopping malls - in the cities of Zaporizhzhia and Sumy - were targeted by Russian air strikes earlier this week, according to Ukrainian media.

Russia reported a Ukrainian seaborne drone attack on the resort city of Sochi overnight on Wednesday, in which 28 people were wounded, as well as three more deaths blamed on Ukrainian attacks.

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

In a Telegram post, regional governor Oleksandr Hanzha said of the 67 people 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 said 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 said.

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

Stabil.Az