Attack on Ukraine shopping centre that killed 16 is ‘terror by design’, says EU foreign policy chief

Kaja Kallas, the EU’s top diplomat, threatens harshest sanctions yet on Russia after strike on Kryvyi Rih, the home town of Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Russian drones have slammed into a busy shopping centre in central Ukraine , killing 16 people in an attack that Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned as “cynical and despicable”.

The EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, condemned Friday’s attack on Kryvyi Rih – the president’s home town – as “terror by design” and said she was “putting forward the most far-reaching Russia sanctions listings since the start of the war” when ministers meet in Ireland next month.

“Russia’s attack against a shopping centre in [Kryvyi Rih] shows the absolute and utter depravity of Moscow’s war,” Kallas said on X, claiming that Moscow “wants to make Ukrainian cities unliveable”.

Videos on social media of the Kryvyi Rih attack showed rescuers rushing to help the wounded on the street outside, as smoke poured out of the building.

A second drone smashed into the roof of the building about half an hour after the first – a repeat strike that Zelenskyy said in a post on X was “targeting the emergency responders”.

Ukrainian emergency services initially said the attack had killed 15 people and wounded 130 others, 23 of them children.

In his X post, Zelenskyy condemned “an absolutely cynical and despicable strike ... carried out by the Russians against an ordinary shopping centre”.

Kryvyi Rih, an industrial city about 60km (37 miles) from the front line, has come under repeated Russian attacks throughout the war.

Ukraine’s allies are to meet on Monday to reaffirm their support for Kyiv in talks held on the country’s independence day. The meeting of the so-called “coalition of the willing” will be co-chaired by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, the UK prime minister, Andy Burnham, and the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz.

About 10 leaders including the European Council chief, António Costa, will be in Kyiv for the coalition meeting, according to an EU official.

“The world must respond to them accordingly – with real pressure on the aggressor. For peace to be possible, Russia must face real accountability,” he said.

Zelenskyy held a call with the UN chief, António Guterres, on Friday, updating him on Russian strikes and the civilian casualties they had caused, the Ukrainian leader said on X.

Kyiv has repeatedly appealed to its allies for additional support as Russia steps up its strikes, with Ukrainian forces struggling in particular to intercept salvos of ballistic missiles.