The death toll from a Russian double-tap drone strike on the largest shopping centre in Kryvyi Rih has risen to 16, according to Ukrainian officials, as rescue workers continue to search the wreckage.

We previously reported that at least 15 people had died in the attack on the central Ukrainian city, which is the birthplace of President Volodymyr Zelensky. Emergency services have warned the toll could climb further as operations continue, with 130 people injured, including 23 children.

Ukrainian authorities stated that the attack was carried out in two distinct waves, with the second drone striking approximately 30 minutes after the first. Officials said this delay was deliberately timed to target emergency workers and first responders who had arrived at the scene to assist survivors.

Footage recorded in the aftermath shows thick smoke rising from the commercial complex before a second drone struck the burning building directly, causing a large fireball. Video filmed from inside the complex captured shoppers attempting to navigate smoke-filled corridors as fire spread through multiple retail units.

Twenty-nine of the wounded remain in a critical condition in hospital. Among them is a 14-year-old girl who suffered a traumatic brain injury, alongside four other children in serious condition.

President Zelensky condemned the strike in a video address posted to X, describing it as an "absolutely cynical and despicable" Russian atrocity carried out by "monsters", and pledged that Kyiv would respond. He urged the international community not to remain silent, renewing his call for allies to provide additional air defences to protect civilian lives.

Neither the Russian military nor officials in Moscow have issued any comment on the strike.

The attack on Kryvyi Rih formed part of a wider wave of Russian strikes across Ukraine, which also hit the Mykolaiv and Kharkiv regions, killing an additional six people. That followed an assault on Kyiv 24 hours earlier, where a barrage of missiles and drones killed 17 people, injured more than 40, and damaged residential blocks, warehouses, a school, and a children's hospital.

Russia has intensified its aerial campaign against Ukrainian cities in recent months while ground combat along the front lines remains largely locked in stalemate. I will continue to monitor developments and provide updates as further information is confirmed.