Russia, Ukraine trade attacks as Putin warns of ‘far more destructive’ hits

Russia and Ukraine have exchanged heavy air attacks, killing at least 17 people, as Russian President Vladimir Putin warned of intensified retaliatory strikes on Ukrainian economic infrastructure.

Russian attacks on Ukraine on Saturday killed at least seven people, while Ukrainian strikes on Russia and Moscow-occupied territory killed at least 10, according to officials.

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Ukraine’s strikes included hits on a warehouse operated by online retailer Ozon and an industrial site in Samara region, officials said.

The deadly attacks came as Russia and Ukraine both ramp up drone campaigns aiming to cripple each other’s economic infrastructure, often striking targets far beyond the war’s front lines, ⁠as fighting on the battlefield grinds towards the four and a half year mark.

The exchange on Saturday also followed a Russian drone attack on a shopping centre in Kryvyi Rih that killed 16 people and wounded about 130 on Friday, according to a local official.

Strikes on Russia

In a post on Telegram on Saturday, the governor of Russia’s Samara region, Vyacheslav Fedorishchev, said that an elderly woman had been killed in a strike on the city of Novokuibyshevsk, which he said caused damage to industrial facilities.

Ukraine’s military said it had struck the city’s oil refinery, causing a fire.

Ozon, Russia’s second-largest online retailer, said in a statement on Telegram that ⁠work at its Samara region logistics centre in the town of Chapayevsk had been ⁠halted after the strike, which it said caused injuries.

The attack is the first on Ozon following weeks of drone strikes on its larger rival Wildberries, which Ukraine has cast as part of a wider campaign against economic infrastructure underpinning the Russian war in Ukraine.

Elsewhere, regional officials reported casualties across several Russian border and occupied territories. Three people, including two children, were killed in Krasnodar region, while two were killed and 13 wounded in Belgorod.

In Russian-annexed Sevastopol in Crimea, at least two people died, and 10 were injured after a Ukrainian drone struck a bus, according to the Moscow-installed governor.

In Russian-controlled Luhansk, two civilians, including a 16-year-old boy, were reported killed.

Putin, speaking to state broadcaster Vesti TV, said Ukraine’s strikes on Russian economic targets amounted to opening a “Pandora’s box”.

“The Kyiv regime set out to damage our economy,” he said. “What did it do? It opened this Pandora’s box itself.”

“Retaliation will not be long in coming,” he said. “Russia’s actions are far more painful and far more destructive. I have said many times that there will always be a response.”

Strikes on Ukraine

In Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, at least one person was killed and another wounded when Russian ballistic missiles hit railway infrastructure in the city overnight, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Another attack on the Kyiv region on Saturday afternoon killed two others, officials said. One person was killed overnight in the Zaporizhia region, while a daytime attack killed three others and wounded 15, according to local officials.

Rescuers in Kryvyi Rih, Zelenskyy’s hometown, meanwhile searched the charred wreckage of the Sunny Gallery shopping complex following Friday’s deadly assault.

Oleksandr Hanzha, the governor of Dnipropetrovsk, 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.

Al Jazeera’s Audrey MacAlpine, reporting from Kyiv, said Friday’s attack began “at 4:30 in the afternoon when the mall is typically crowded”, with a second wave following “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 people,” she said.

Air defences and humanitarian aid

The strikes prompted renewed pledges of support from European allies.

French President Emmanuel Macron said he would accelerate deliveries of military equipment and missiles to Ukraine and confirmed France’s willingness to license domestic missile production, following a call with Zelenskyy.

Macron said he expressed his “horror” and “emotion”, adding that Russia was seeking to “break Ukraine through terror”.

“With these strikes and those this week against Kyiv, Russia is continuing and intensifying the crime of its aggression,” Macron added on X.

Ukraine is expected to receive the ⁠new Italo-French SAMP/T-NG missile defence ⁠system, which is believed to be capable of downing ballistic missiles. Prior to the attack, the shipments were not expected to arrive in Ukraine ‌before ‌spring 2027, according to European diplomats.

The French president said he and Zelenskyy also discussed preparations for a meeting of the “Coalition of the Willing” scheduled for Monday.

“It is essential that all countries with capabilities at their disposal also join this effort,” Macron posted on X, adding that France would continue cooperation under the Integrated Anti-Ballistic Missile Coalition.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, who was visiting Kyiv on Saturday, also sharply criticised the shopping centre attack, condemning Putin for increasing the “intensity of war” and “deliberately terrorising civilians”.

At a news conference, Wadephul announced additional humanitarian aid for Ukraine, pledging an additional $58m, which will go to the United Nations agencies and NGOs focused on people residing near the front lines.

Zelenskyy said he discussed preparations for the upcoming winter with Wadephul, as Russia is expected to renew its relentless attacks on Ukraine’s energy grid.

Germany is expected to pay about another $12m into a NATO fund to strengthen Ukraine’s energy networks and systems for defending against drones, Wadephul said.