5 dead, 67 injured after Russian attack on Pavlohrad shopping center

Five people have been killed and at least 67 were injured after a Russian strike on a shopping center in Pavlohrad, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, authorities said on Sept. 10.

The Russian attack killed 39-year-old miner Vitaliy Guba and 43-year-old machinist Yevhen Shevchenko, who worked for Ukraine's largest private energy company DTEK, the company said on Sept. 11. Four of the injured were also DTEK employees, the company said.

Among those injured are also three teenage boys aged 13, 14, and 15.

"About an hour ago, the Russians struck a shopping centre in central Pavlohrad. In the middle of the day, when there were many people on the streets," Interior Minister Ivan Vyhivskyi said in a post on social media.

"The world sees what Russia is doing. There will be support for Ukraine. One hundred percent of our attention is focused on this," President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram, stressing that decisions with partners on additional support, including strengthening Ukraine’s air defenses, were expected later in the day "to protect Ukrainians from such Russian terror."

It has not been confirmed which type of weapon Russia used in the attack, but videos posted on social media suggest at least one drone struck after the initial explosion.

The National Police said two emergency workers were among those injured.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Moscow was deliberately targeting places where civilians gather, seeking to inflict maximum casualties, spread fear, and coerce Ukraine into concessions. Russia can sustain the attacks because it continues to have access to weapons, foreign components, financing, and a sense of impunity, he added.

"Sanctions must hit Russia’s weapons production and the supply chains that keep it running. Russian revenues financing this terror must be cut," Sybiha said, also urging Ukraine’s partners to provide additional air-defense systems and interceptor missiles without delay.

Pavlohrad, roughly 75 kilometers (45 miles) from the front line, became a relatively safe haven for those fleeing the war further east, but the situation has changed dramatically in recent months.

On July 20, the first glide bomb (KAB) attacked the city. KABs, while having a shorter range than missiles, are cheaper to produce, launched from aircraft within Russian territory or Russian-occupied territories, and carry warheads up to 1,500 kilograms — enough to level an entire apartment block.

Elsewhere, Russian forces struck a shopping and entertainment center in Sumy for a second time on Sept. 10, less than a day after an attack on the same mall killed two people and injured 23 others, including three children, according to local authorities.

The deadly strikes come as Russia has intensified attacks on Ukraine's supermarkets and shopping centers — even during the day, when stores are crowded with civilians.