Russian strikes kill 6 in Ukraine, Ukrainian drone hits Russian home killing 2 children

Russian airstrikes on Ukrainian territory in the early hours of August 23 killed at least six people and wounded 26 others, according to officials from both countries. At the same time, a Ukrainian drone struck a house in southern Russia, killing two children and injuring their parents.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko confirmed on the morning of August 23 that one person died in a fire at a warehouse in the Darnytskyi district following a Russian ballistic missile attack overnight. In the Kherson region, three other people were killed and 13 wounded after Russian attacks damaged homes and apartment buildings, according to the regional military administration.

In the Donetsk region, Russian attacks killed one person and wounded seven, including five in the frontline city of Kramatorsk, according to regional governor Vadym Filashkin. In the Sumy region, a drone attack on a house killed a man, while six others were wounded in separate drone strikes across the region. In the city of Kherson, a drone attack sparked a fire at a shopping center, but no casualties were reported.

On the Russian side, the regional administration of Krasnodar in southern Russia said two children were killed and two adults wounded in a Ukrainian drone attack.

The latest attacks come as rescue operations continue in Kryvyi Rih, the hometown of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, where emergency workers are searching through the charred rubble of the Sunny Gallery shopping center following an attack on the afternoon of August 22. Oleksandr Vilkul, head of Kryvyi Rih's Defense Council, said Russian forces targeted the city's largest shopping mall with jet-powered Shahed drones. A second strike came about 30 minutes after the first, apparently aimed at rescue teams already on the scene.

Dnipropetrovsk regional governor Oleksandr Hanzha confirmed in a morning update on August 23 that the death toll from the Kryvyi Rih attack had risen to 16, with more than 130 people wounded, including 22 children. President Zelenskyy called the August 22 attack "utterly cynical and despicable" and a "barbaric act," vowing a swift response. "Such attacks are nothing but acts of terror," he wrote on Telegram.

Al Jazeera's Audrey MacAlpine, reporting from Kyiv, said the August 22 attack began "at 4:30 p.m. when the shopping center was usually crowded," and the second strike came "just 30 minutes later, with rescue workers from neighboring areas deployed." She also noted that civilian casualties in the war continue to rise, with July being one of the deadliest months for civilians on both sides since the full-scale war began, and this is another example of attacks far from the front lines taking a heavy toll on ordinary people.