Kyiv, 22 August 2026 – A Russian attack on a crowded shopping centre in Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk region, on 21 August appears to constitute a breach of international humanitarian law, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) said on Saturday.
Monitors from the Mission visited the impact site and a hospital on Saturday, interviewed victims and witnesses, and collected information about those killed and injured.
Around 16:30 on 21 August Kyiv time, a long-range drone launched by Russian armed forces struck the shopping centre "Soniachna Gallereia" (Sun Gallery) in Kryvyi Rih. Approximately 30 minutes later, a second drone struck the same mall. HRMMU established that the shopping centre was operational and full of civilians at the time of the attack.
The two strikes killed at least 16 civilians and injured 128, including at least 23 children, according to Ukrainian authorities. HRMMU had at the time of publication collected the names of 10 people who were killed and the names and ages of 21 children injured in the attack. As of the afternoon of 22 August, search and rescue operations continued.
“The fact that the shopping centre was struck twice within approximately 30 minutes strongly indicates it was the intended target of this attack,” said Danielle Bell, head of HRMMU. “Our observations and interviews with victims and witnesses have so far not identified any military presence, activity or equipment at the site that could render the shopping centre a military objective. Instead, we found an operational shopping centre crowded with civilians on a Friday afternoon.”
Witnesses interviewed by HRMMU described scenes of panic and numerous casualties after the attack. One employee of a shop said, “People were lying on the floor, bleeding and screaming, others were running away. There were so many people injured around. I saw two young girls, covered in blood.” Another employee said "I remember dust, injured people and hysteria after the attack. It was an ordinary shopping centre, and Friday afternoon peak hours, so there were many people."
All of those interviewed also said that they had seen no military personnel, equipment, or activity at or near the shopping mall.
International law prohibits deliberate attacks on civilians, and obliges an attacking party to take constant care during military operations to spare civilians and civilian objects.
The attack follows several strikes by Russian armed forces in recent days that have caused high civilian casualties across Ukraine. An overnight attack with long-range drones and missiles reportedly killed at least 16 civilians and injured 40 in Kyiv city and region on 19-20 August.
Civilian casualties in Ukraine have increased dramatically in 2026. During the first seven months of 2026, HRMMU verified that conflict-related violence in Ukraine resulted in 12,477 civilian casualties (1,839 killed and 10,638 injured). This constitutes a 44 per cent increase compared with the same period in 2025 (1,434 killed and 7,216 injured) and more than double the number during the same period in 2024 (1,188 killed and 4,560 injured).
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