Russia and Ukraine have exchanged heavy air attacks, killing at least 17 people, as Russian President Vladimir Putin warned of intensified retaliatory strikes on Ukrainian economic infrastructure.

Russian attacks on Ukraine on Saturday killed at least seven people, while Ukrainian strikes on Russia and Moscow-occupied territory killed at least 10, according to officials.

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Ukraine’s strikes included hits on a warehouse operated by online retailer Ozon and an industrial site in Samara region, officials said.

The deadly attacks came as Russia and Ukraine both ramp up drone campaigns aiming to cripple each other’s economic infrastructure, often striking targets far beyond the war’s front lines, ⁠as fighting on the battlefield grinds towards the four and a half year mark.

The exchange on Saturday also followed a Russian drone attack on a shopping centre in Kryvyi Rih that killed 16 people and wounded about 130 on Friday, according to a local official.

Strikes on Russia

In a post on Telegram on Saturday, the governor of Russia’s Samara region, Vyacheslav Fedorishchev, said that an elderly woman had been killed in a strike on the city of Novokuibyshevsk, which he said caused damage to industrial facilities.

Ukraine’s military said it had struck the city’s oil refinery, causing a fire.

Ozon, Russia’s second-largest online retailer, said in a statement on Telegram that ⁠work at its Samara region logistics centre in the town of Chapayevsk had been ⁠halted after the strike, which it said caused injuries.

The attack is the first on Ozon following weeks of drone strikes on its larger rival Wildberries, which Ukraine has cast as part of a wider campaign against economic infrastructure underpinning the Russian war in Ukraine.

Elsewhere, regional officials reported casualties across several Russian border and occupied territories. Three people, including two children, were killed in Krasnodar region, while two were killed and 13 wounded in Belgorod.

In Russian-annexed Sevastopol in Crimea, at least two people died, and 10 were injured after a Ukrainian drone struck a bus, according to the Moscow-installed governor.

In Russian-controlled Luhansk, two civilians, including a 16-year-old boy, were reported killed.

Putin, speaking to state broadcaster Vesti TV, said Ukraine’s strikes on Russian economic targets amounted to opening a “Pandora’s box”.

“The Kyiv regime set out to damage our economy,” he said. “What did it do? It opened this Pandora’s box itself.”

“Retaliation will not be long in coming,” he said. “Russia’s actions are far more painful and far more destructive. I have said many times that there will always be a response.”

Strikes on Ukraine

In Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, at least one person was killed and another wounded when Russian ballistic missiles hit railway infrastructure in the city overnight, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Another attack on the Kyiv region on Saturday afternoon killed two others, officials said. One person was killed overnight in the Zaporizhia region, while a daytime attack killed three others and wounded 15, according to local officials.

Rescuers in Kryvyi Rih, Zelenskyy’s hometown, meanwhile searched the charred wreckage of the Sunny Gallery shopping complex following Friday’s deadly assault.

Oleksandr Hanzha, the governor of Dnipropetrovsk, confirmed in an update on Saturday morning that the death toll in Kryvyi Rih had risen to 16, with more than 130 wounded, including 22 children.

Al Jazeera’s Audrey MacAlpine, reporting from Kyiv, said Friday’s attack began “at 4:30 in the afternoon when the mall is typically crowded”, with a second wave following “just 30 minutes later, with rescue workers from nearby regions called in to help”.

“The attacks come as civilian casualties in the war continue to mount, with July marking one of the deadliest months for civilians on both sides since the full-scale war began. And they are another example of how attacks far beyond the front lines are taking their toll on ordinary people,” she said.

Air defences and humanitarian aid

The strikes prompted renewed pledges of support from European allies.

French President Emmanuel Macron said he would accelerate deliveries of military equipment and missiles to Ukraine and confirmed France’s willingness to license domestic missile production, following a call with Zelenskyy.

Macron said he expressed his “horror” and “emotion”, adding that Russia was seeking to “break Ukraine through terror”.

“With these strikes and those this week against Kyiv, Russia is continuing and intensifying the crime of its aggression,” Macron added on X.

Ukraine is expected to receive the ⁠new Italo-French SAMP/T-NG missile defence ⁠system, which is believed to be capable of downing ballistic missiles. Prior to the attack, the shipments were not expected to arrive in Ukraine ‌before ‌spring 2027, according to European diplomats.

The French president said he and Zelenskyy also discussed preparations for a meeting of the “Coalition of the Willing” scheduled for Monday.

“It is essential that all countries with capabilities at their disposal also join this effort,” Macron posted on X, adding that France would continue cooperation under the Integrated Anti-Ballistic Missile Coalition.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, who was visiting Kyiv on Saturday, also sharply criticised the shopping centre attack, condemning Putin for increasing the “intensity of war” and “deliberately terrorising civilians”.

At a news conference, Wadephul announced additional humanitarian aid for Ukraine, pledging an additional $58m, which will go to the United Nations agencies and NGOs focused on people residing near the front lines.

Zelenskyy said he discussed preparations for the upcoming winter with Wadephul, as Russia is expected to renew its relentless attacks on Ukraine’s energy grid.

Germany is expected to pay about another $12m into a NATO fund to strengthen Ukraine’s energy networks and systems for defending against drones, Wadephul said.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov suggests Moscow is keen for the US – which has shown support for Russia’s agenda – to revive its involvement in negotiations.

Moscow is ready to listen to new ideas for ending the war in Ukraine, provided they align with President Vladimir Putin’s position, a senior Russian diplomat has said.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said in an interview published by News.ru on Friday that Russia is open to proposals that are in line with “realities on the ground”.

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Ryabkov’s words suggest that Moscow may be seeking to revive the Trump administration’s support for its agenda. Moscow previously welcomed the United States’ demonstrating “an understanding of Russia’s position”, but Washington has been distracted from mediation efforts amid its war on Iran.

“The Russian Federation is ready to listen to any reasonable proposals and ideas that are in line with the goals set by the Russian president and meet the ‘realities on the ground’,” Ryabkov said.

“At this stage, it is more important to what extent Washington is able to influence the decisions of the Kyiv regime and its European sponsors, who still dream of a ‘strategic defeat’ of Russia,” he added.

Putin has previously demanded that before agreeing to a ceasefire in the war he launched in February 2022, Ukraine must hand over the whole of the eastern Donbas region, demilitarise, and pledge it will not seek to join NATO.

Several rounds of US-brokered negotiations at the start of the year failed to reach a settlement. Further talks slated for early March were cancelled as the US launched its war on Iran alongside Israel.

The meetings followed the circulation of a 28-point, Washington-generated peace plan last November that raised ire for its capitulations to Russian demands.

US special envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff led the negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv earlier this year, but the Kremlin said on Thursday that it has no new information on a potential visit from the duo.

Ukraine is also awaiting the return of the US mediators. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday evening that he was “preparing decisions within the diplomatic team”.

“New approaches are needed in some areas, particularly in the United States,” he said, adding: “Ukraine needs results.”

Zelenskyy met with US President Donald Trump at the White House last month, where they discussed reviving the talks and plans for Ukraine to produce Patriot missiles.

Ongoing attacks

On the ground, Russia and Ukraine have stepped up deadly attacks in recent weeks, with dozens killed and neighbouring nations becoming increasingly concerned about potential spillover.

The hostilities continued overnight. In eastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, Russian attacks killed two women, the state emergency services wrote on Telegram. The attack triggered fires at five residential buildings and several cars.

Another attack on a home killed one person and injured another in Ukraine’s Zaporizhia region, governor Ivan Federov said.

In Russia, a Ukrainian drone attack damaged an industrial facility in the Perm region in the Ural mountains, according to regional governor Dmitry Makhonin.

Energy infrastructure has become a major target of both sides.

Zelenskyy confirmed that a major oil refinery in Russia’s Perm region – the target of several recent attacks – was hit by drones, as well as a ⁠military air base in the Volgograd ‌region

⁠Ukraine’s Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal ⁠said Russian ⁠attacks have damaged or ⁠destroyed more than ⁠300 fuel stations in the past six months, causing “significant losses ⁠for our ⁠economy”.

Russian drones meanwhile damaged a border crossing with Moldova in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region, Ukrainian authorities said.

Finland’s border guard said a suspected Russian reconnaissance plane violated Finnish airspace in the western gulf on Thursday.

Russian ballistic missile attacks have begun to cause record civilian deaths in Ukrainian cities without any Patriot interceptors to stop them, but Ukraine’s long-range strikes have destroyed Russian fuel supplies.

With the Russian economy struggling, a top expert warned that social unrest could unfold in a matter of time – and consequently lost his job.

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On Tuesday, Russian missiles killed at least 10 people in Pechenihy, a town 40km (25 miles) east of Ukraine’s northern city of Kharkiv. On Thursday, they killed 15 people in Kyiv, three in the western city of Zhytomyr and injured 40 at a border crossing between Odesa and Moldova.

Russia said it was targeting weapons manufacturing sites in Kyiv, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian forces struck 30 residential buildings, a school and a children’s hospital.

The United Nations said Russia killed a record 437 people in July and injured 2,610, surpassing its previous record in June by 30 percent.

Civilian casualties have continued in August, because Ukraine has run out of Patriot interceptors and has been unable to stop incoming ballistic missile attacks since the beginning of the month.

As Zelenskyy pointed out, Ukraine’s interception rate of cruise missiles and drones is still in the 90-percent range. But Russia is doubling down on the use of ballistic missiles and has brought in an additional 50 North Korean weapons, according to Ukrainian military intelligence.

Ukraine strikes back

Since June 25, Ukraine has launched a campaign of mid-range strikes to disrupt Russian logistics and has harassed fuel and ammunition supplies so effectively that it has made 233sq km (90 square miles) of territorial gains this year.

By August 16, Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces announced it had put 228 supply ships out of action in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov, as well as destroying 243 power stations, electricity substations and gas distribution nodes in Crimea.

They have also been striking relay antennas used to guide Russian drones and radar stations that detect Ukrainian counterstrikes. On August 20, Ukraine struck drone launch sites in Donetsk City and Primorsko-Akhtarsk on the Sea of Azov, as well as a fuel terminal in the Kerch Strait used to supply Crimea.

Ukraine’s long-range strikes have served a different purpose – to undermine the Russian economy’s ability to fund its war.

On August 15, Ukraine managed to fly two of its Flamingo cruise missiles into the Progress Rocket and Space Centre, 800km (500 miles) east of Moscow, despite Russia’s use of four A-50 early warning aircraft and its reported downing of 822 Ukrainian drones that day.

Ukraine said it hit an engine assembly workshop for Soyuz rockets, causing a fire covering half a hectare.

Russia is using Soyuz to launch satellites for its Rassvet constellation to replace dependence on the US Starlink system, after Ukraine managed to cut Russian access to Starlink on February 1 . Russia needs satellites to increase the speed and precision of its counter-battery fire on Ukrainian positions. Its loss of that capacity has been partly responsible for Ukrainian gains this year.

“One Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle can put 20 satellites into orbit,” said Ukrainian electronics expert Serhiy Beskrestnov. “To create a basic satellite constellation in orbit, Russia needs to carry out 12-15 launches.”

The following day, Ukraine set ablaze a 25-hectare warehouse belonging to the Wildberries online retail chain, Russia’s equivalent of Amazon, and said it had destroyed seven out of Wildberries’ ten largest logistical hubs.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on July 28 that the Kremlin was monitoring the damage to Wildberries.

Russian President Vladimir Putin implied on Thursday that he might provide government funds for Wildberries to rebuild, saying “logistics and warehousing capacity certainly needs to be restored, including with government support”.

Ukraine has also succeeded in destroying Russian oil refineries and starving its economy of petrol

It has recently struck the Ust-Luga refinery, the Taneco refinery in Tatarstan and the Perm refinery, 1,500km (930 miles) from its borders.

The Izvestia newspaper reported that only 28 percent of petrol stations across the country could supply fuel this week, citing mobile app GdeBENZ, which monitors real-time fuel availability.

Izvestia said only five petrol stations in Moscow were selling high-octane AI-98 fuel. Russians posted video of Rosgvardia police units sitting outside petrol stations to avert some of the fights involving motorists in recent months.

Deputy Prime Minister, Alexander Novak, said lower-grade fuel was being supplied to ease market tensions, and confirmed that Russia is now importing refined fuel for the domestic market.

“We expect a number of oil refineries to complete maintenance work soon and the situation to improve significantly,” Novak told Vesti journalist Pavel Zarubin, but that may be wishful thinking. Ukraine has struck Russia’s largest refineries not once but repeatedly. On Wednesday [August 19 ], it struck a refining unit at Ufa, which was undergoing repairs from a previous strike. It is 1,300km (810 miles) from Ukraine.

Ukraine also struck significant military targets during the week, including the Kamenyy Kombinat plant in Rostov, which makes solid rocket fuel for missiles, and the Savasleika airfield, from where MiG fighters armed with Kh-47M2 ballistic missiles take -off.

Russian economy in trouble

Some Russian economists have begun to warn of impending social and political upheaval as a result of the slowing economy.

Andrey Klepach, chief economist at Vnesheconombank, a state bank that finances the Kremlin’s national projects, warned on August 18 that, “Losses from Ukrainian military strikes … are already becoming a significant macroeconomic barrier to Russian economic growth.

“I believe Russia won’t collapse, but I’m almost certain we’ll reach a social crisis.”

He was removed from his post after making the comments during a discussion at the Moscow Exchange’s Nikitsky Club.

Russians are withdrawing savings in increasing amounts, reported The Washington Post. While businesses are increasing “voluntary” donations to the state defence budget, in addition to having to pay for their own air defences, putting further strain on the economy.

At a meeting of the Council for Strategic Development and National Projects this week, Putin acknowledged that Ukraine’s strikes are “certainly” causing damage, adding that “overall economic performance is modest but positive”.

That damage took financial form in the $1.18bn Putin newly released to aid regional budgets, in addition to previous financial assistance. Some $52m of that was destined for Crimea.

Ukraine’s defence ministry estimated that every dollar spent on drone strikes caused five times that amount in costs to the Russian economy.