by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Chief
WARSAW/LONDON/KYIV/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – The death toll from a Russian drone strike on a crowded shopping center in Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown rose to at least 16 Sunday, as Kyiv pleaded for more air-defense interceptors and France promised additional missiles amid mounting concerns that the conflict is increasingly affecting security across Europe.
At least 130 people were injured, including 23 children, when powerful Russian drones struck the shopping center in Kryvyi Rih on Friday, Ukrainian authorities said. Rescuers continued searching through the wreckage, raising fears that the death toll could climb further.
Ukrainian officials accused Russia of carrying out a “double-tap” attack, with a second drone striking about half an hour after the initial attack as emergency workers were responding. Zelenskyy, who was born in Kryvyi Rih, condemned the attack and vowed a response.
The bloodshed underscored Ukraine’s increasingly urgent shortage of air-defense ammunition as Russia expands its use of ballistic missiles and more difficult-to-intercept drones.
Zelenskyy said Russia has an estimated stockpile of 600 to 630 ballistic missiles and could eventually produce about 1,300 annually, while Ukraine needs hundreds of additional U.S.-made Patriot interceptors to protect its cities and critical infrastructure through the coming winter.
AIR DEFENSE CRISIS
“I wanted to secure 300 Patriot missiles for the winter package. The request from our air force is 360,” Zelenskyy told journalists, while appealing to Washington to release even a small percentage of U.S. stocks.
French President Emmanuel Macron responded after a lengthy telephone conversation with Zelenskyy by promising to accelerate French support, including deliveries of interceptor missiles.
Macron also said France would advance deployment of the Franco-Italian SAMP/T air-defense system and support efforts to strengthen Ukraine’s ability to manufacture weapons domestically. France’s commitment comes as Patriot interceptors—the weapons Ukraine relies on most heavily against Russian ballistic missiles—remain in critically short supply.
The discussions came as Kyiv hosted Nordic and Baltic leaders Sunday ahead of Ukraine’s Independence Day, with representatives from Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Norway reaffirming support for the country.
Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal said Ukraine needed “more air defense, more ammunition, and greater investment in Ukraine’s defense industry,” while also urging stronger sanctions and measures to prevent Moscow from circumventing them.
ALLIES GATHER
Attention is also turning to Monday’s meeting of the so-called Coalition of the Willing, the British- and French-led grouping of countries supporting Ukraine, which is expected to discuss additional military assistance, air defenses and longer-term security arrangements.
Yet the international show of solidarity comes as Zelenskyy faces unusually public political tensions at home.
The president rejected calls from former Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov to hold elections despite the war, warning that a national vote under current circumstances could divide the country.
“Elections right now are a tsunami for the state that will split Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said, arguing that millions of displaced Ukrainians, troops fighting at the front and people living under continuing Russian bombardment would all have to be able to participate safely.
Fedorov, dismissed last month, has criticized wartime corruption and what he described as a wider governance crisis. His intervention represented one of the most significant public challenges to Zelenskyy from within Ukraine’s wartime political establishment.
ELECTION TENSIONS
Zelenskyy suggested that elections would become possible if Ukraine’s allies could help establish conditions for a safe, legitimate and democratic vote, but said his immediate priority remained ending the war while preserving an independent Ukrainian state.
He also warned that Moscow could mobilize another 300,000 troops after Russia’s parliamentary elections in September as it seeks to reinforce its forces and capture the remaining Ukrainian-held areas of the eastern Donetsk region.
Ukraine has sought to fight back, increasingly striking targets deep inside Russia. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened further attacks on Ukraine’s economy after Kyiv intensified long-range drone strikes against Russian oil refineries, warehouses and other infrastructure it says supports Moscow’s war effort.
Putin accused Kyiv of opening “Pandora’s box” by targeting Russia’s economy and said Moscow would retaliate against Ukraine’s “most sensitive economic sectors.”
The escalating exchanges have coincided with mounting concern that the confrontation is increasingly affecting countries beyond Ukraine.
BRITAIN WARNED
Russia warned Britain that it would face “consequences” after reports that British-made drones supplied to Ukraine were used in strikes deep inside Russian territory.
The Russian Embassy accused London of escalating the conflict and warned that “the deeper its involvement” became, the higher the price Britain would pay.
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham rejected the warning, saying Britain would continue supporting Ukraine “100 percent” and would not be bullied into abandoning Kyiv. Britain has pledged large quantities of drones and other weapons to Ukraine.
The diplomatic relationship has deteriorated further with the departure of Russia’s longtime ambassador to Britain, Andrey Kelin, after seven years in London. Moscow has yet to announce a successor, although the Russian Embassy denied that the move necessarily signaled a formal downgrading of diplomatic relations.
Concerns about Russian activities beyond the battlefield have also intensified in Poland, where authorities recently said they thwarted an alleged Russian intelligence operation to assassinate a Ukrainian-American citizen in Warsaw.
ALLEGED KILLING PLOT
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said a Russian national allegedly recruited by Russian intelligence was arrested August 7 before the planned killing could be carried out. Polish officials said U.S. services helped disrupt the operation.
Tusk described the intended victim as a U.S. citizen of Ukrainian origin who was considered “uncomfortable” for the Putin government.
He said it was the first known case in which someone allegedly acting on Russian orders had sought to assassinate an American citizen on the territory of another member of the NATO military alliance. Russia did not immediately comment on the allegations.
Western security officials say the case fits a wider pattern of alleged Russian-linked assassination, sabotage and disruption operations across Europe since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Authorities in France, Lithuania and Germany have reported disrupting alleged plots against Russian exiles, Ukrainian officials and supporters of Kyiv, while Britain has long blamed Moscow for the 2006 radioactive poisoning of former Russian intelligence officer Alexander Litvinenko and the 2018 attempted poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in Salisbury.
EUROPE ON ALERT
Germany also concluded that Russia organized the 2019 assassination of former Chechen rebel commander Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in a Berlin park. Moscow has rejected broader Western accusations that it is conducting a sabotage campaign across Europe.
The developments suggest that while Ukraine’s immediate struggle remains obtaining enough interceptors to protect its population from intensifying Russian attacks, European governments are increasingly confronting another challenge: preventing the war and Moscow’s alleged covert operations from reaching deeper into NATO territory.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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