At least 3 killed, 27 injured in airstrike on Ukrainian shopping mall
July 17 (UPI) -- A Russian airstrike on a shopping center and market in the frontline eastern Ukrainian province of Donetsk killed at least three people and injured 27, authorities said.
Donetsk Gov. Vadym Filashkin said in a social media update that survivors of Wednesday evening's attack on downtown Dobropillia were receiving medical treatment, with some medevaced to hospitals in other regions of the country.
More than 300 apartments and 54 shops, as well as several cars, were damaged in the blast and resulting fires from a 1,100-pound high-explosive FAB-500 glide-bomb that struck at 5:20 p.m. local time.
"The Russians have again deliberately targeted an area where there are lots of people -- a shopping center in the middle of town, Filashkin said.
"The rubble is being cleared. We are helping those whose homes have been damaged. Power engineers are restoring the electricity supply," he added.
In a post on X, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the attack as a "vile" act designed to terrorize civilians.
"This is horrendous, dumb Russian terror. Simply an attempt to kill as many as possible. Russia is all about vile strikes like this," Zelensky wrote.
The town of 26,000, which is close to the frontline in the part-Russian-controlled province, has been targeted frequently since the start of the war.
In early March, 11 people were killed and more than 30 injured when two ballistic missiles struck apartment buildings and a shopping center.
Wednesday's attack came as U.S. Special Envoy to Ukraine, Ret. Gen. Keith Kellogg, was in Ukraine for talks with Zelensky on the United States-Ukraine partnership, which has strengthened markedly in recent weeks.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces launched a large-scale drone assault targeting western regions of Russia overnight, including Moscow, killing one person and injuring 11, four of them children.
Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov told the state-run Tass news agency that a woman was killed in a village close to the border with Ukraine after an explosive device was dropped on a single-family home by a Ukrainian drone.
Three children were injured by drone fragments in Voronezh, a city of 1 million in southwestern Russia, and a fourth child was hurt in Kaluga province, southwest of Moscow.
It was unclear how many drones were involved, but the Russian Defense Ministry claimed air defenses shot down 122 drones, of which three were downed as they closed on Moscow in the early hours of Thursday, according to Mayor Sergei Sobyanin.
The attacks also caused authorities to temporarily ground flights at Saint Petersburg's Pulkovo International Airport.
On Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump publicly warned Ukraine not to attack Moscow, apparently seeking to clarify his position after the Financial Times and Washington Post ran stories saying the president had secretly given Kyiv the green light to target the Russian capital.
In a July 4 call with Zelensky, Trump reportedly asked if Ukraine could strike Moscow and Saint Petersburg if the United States supplied the requisite long-range weapons to "make them feel the pain" and force Russia to return to the negotiating table.
The White House dismissed the reports as "clickbait."
"President Trump was merely asking a question, not encouraging further killing. He's working tirelessly to stop the killing and end this war," Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Newsweek in a statement.
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