Russian drones struck the Sunny Gallery shopping center in Kryvyi Rih on Friday afternoon. Then, roughly half an hour later, a second drone hit the same building with firefighters and medics already inside. Ukrainian officials call it a double tap: a strike designed to kill the people who come to help.

The attacks killed at least 14 people and wounded more than 100.

Scripps News' Chief International Correspondent, Jason Bellini, breaks down what happened in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's hometown, why the timing of the second strike matters, and how this fits a pattern the U.N. has been tracking all year civilian deaths in Ukraine in 2026 now running at their highest level since the opening months of the full-scale invasion.

Kryvyi Rih sits about 40 miles from the front line and has been hit repeatedly. Last April, a ballistic missile came down near apartment blocks and a children's playground here, killing 19 people, nine of them children. This attack came a day after a Russian missile strike on Kyiv killed 17.

The rescue operation continued into the night. Officials expect the numbers to rise.

Ukrainian prosecutors have formally named four Russian occupation officials as suspects in a major war crime investigation: the forced deportation of 53 Ukrainian orphansnone of them older than five. The entire operation, first reported by Scripps News, was captured on camera by Russian state television, creating an undeniable paper and video trail that investigators are now using to pursue international warrants and sanctions.

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While the International Criminal Court previously issued arrest warrants for Putin and Lvova-Belova, this new Ukrainian case zeroes in on the ground-level bureaucracy: the administrators and medical directors who signed the papers and put the children on the plane.

Scripps News chief international correspondent Jason Bellini was the first to report, in 2023, that Russia was forcibly taking Ukrainian orphan babies.

A large family is dead in central Ukraine. The missile that killed them wasn't even Russian. It came from a supply chain that now runs through Moscow, Pyongyang, and Tehran.

Parents Artem and Olena Voronov and at least three of their children died when a ballistic missile fired by Russia flattened their home Thursday. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says preliminary evidence points to North Korea as the manufacturer.

"The alliance between Moscows scumbags and the deranged regime in North Korea exists for one reason: For missiles, for North Korean troops on our borders here in Europe, and for killing Ukrainian children," Zelenskyy said.

The strike ends a months-long pause in Russia launching North Korean missiles over Ukraine. And it comes just days after Zelenskyy warned Russia is preparing to deploy up to 30,000 more North Korean troops.

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With Ukraine striking Russian oil infrastructure, Moscow is leaning more heavily on its axis with Pyongyang and Tehran. Iran has for years supplied the drones Russia uses on Ukrainian cities. U.S. officials say the traffic now runs both ways, with Russian drone technology headed back to Tehran.

Thursday's attack also renewed another concern. A Russian cruise missile crashed in Poland roughly 50 miles past the Ukrainian border, deep inside NATO territory raising once again the question: How much will the West absorb before it pushes back more directly against the entire axis?

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Ukraine's second-largest city is now within reach of Russian drones that can't be jammed.

Dmytro Yatsenko, who leads war crimes investigations at the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor's Office, told Scripps News he expects what happened in Kherson to happen here.

Scripps News chief international correspondent, Jason Bellini, discovered the haunting reality in Kharkiv while embedded with the citys war crimes investigators.

The war between Russia and Ukraine has expanded far beyond the front lines, with both sides increasingly striking targets deep inside each other's territory. What constitutes a legitimate military target has become a growing point of contention.

A Russian drone on Sunday slammed into an ATB supermarket in Chernihiv, about 80 miles north of Kyiv, as shoppers filled their carts. Two people were killed, including a 9-year-old child, and 25 others were wounded.

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Chernihiv police said the drone was equipped with an optical camera, allowing its operator to view the target and watch the strike unfold in real time. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the attack deliberate.

Russia has defended the supermarket strike by pointing to Ukraine's repeated attacks on Wildberries, Russia's largest online retailer, which have killed nine people and injured dozens this month. Russian state media has argued that if the Wildberries warehouse is a legitimate target, then a grocery store is as well.

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Ukraine rejects that comparison, saying the Wildberries facility was used to move drone components and other sanctioned electronics for the Russian military. Drone products, including combat-ready quadcopters, are openly listed for sale on the company's website. Journalists with the Kyiv Independent also reported finding drone bomb-release mechanisms available through the online marketplace.

Russia has not publicly presented evidence that the supermarket in Chernihiv was being used for military purposes.