Russia Warns Ukraine Has Opened “Pandora’s Box” – Russia and Ukraine traded another wave of massive long-range strikes overnight into Saturday, August 22, amid ongoing and escalating nightly strikes that are pounding Ukrainian cities and devastating Russian economic and military infrastructure.
At least seven people were reported killed in Russian attacks across Ukraine on Saturday, only a day after a Russian drone strike on a busy shopping center in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih killed 16 people and wounded around 130. Ukrainian attacks, meanwhile, killed at least 10 people across Russia and Russian-controlled territory and struck oil and logistics infrastructure hundreds of miles from the Ukrainian border.
Putin in 2023. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Putin in 2021. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
The overnight exchanges come as Russia leverages its large inventory of ballistic missiles – and expected deliveries of North Korean weapons – as Ukraine struggles with a shortage of interceptors. The war is destroying critical infrastructure on both sides of the conflict, and Russian President Vladimir Putin is now openly warning that Moscow intends to respond – and escalate.
Russia Hits Kyiv Again
Russian ballistic missiles struck railway infrastructure in Kyiv overnight into Saturday, killing one person and injuring another, according to Zelenskyy. Russia’s Defense Ministry confirmed that its forces targeted a locomotive depot.
Another ballistic missile attack later Saturday killed two people in the wider Kyiv region. Russian drone attacks also killed people in the Zaporizhzhia region, where separate overnight and daytime strikes left four dead and at least 15 wounded.
The attacks followed one of Russia’s deadliest strikes on Kyiv this year, which killed seventeen people and left more than 40 wounded on August 20. The strike involved dozens of Russian cruise, ballistic, and hypersonic missiles that were launched alongside 168 drones. Ukraine intercepted most of the slower-moving weapons but was incapable of intercepting ballistic missiles – a product of both its shortage of Patriot interceptors and the fact that hundreds of other projectiles were launched with the intent of overwhelming Ukrainian defenses.
The Patriot is currently Ukraine’s principal defense against the ballistic missiles that are now being used on a regular basis against Kyiv.
Mall Attack Death Toll Reaches 16
The strikes came as rescue workers were still searching through the remains of a shopping center in Kryvyi Rih, the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after a devastating Russian attack on Friday.
According to Dnipropetrovsk regional governor Oleksandr Hanzha, the death toll has now risen to 16, with roughly 130 people wounded. 22 children were among those who were injured, and 29 victims are understood to be in serious condition. Nine people, including two children, are still missing.
Ukrainian authorities also accused Russia of conducting what’s known as a “double-tap” attack following the strikes. According to Zelenskyy, a second Russian drone struck the same target approximately 30 minutes after the first attack, when rescuers and emergency workers were already responding and at the scene. Zelenskyy also labeled the attack an “act of barbarism.”
Separate Russian strikes on Friday killed four people, including three children, in the Mykolaiv region.
Ukraine Launches Huge Drone Counterattack
Ukraine continues to strike deep inside Russia, despite the threat Russian ballistic missiles pose to its own cities.
Overnight into Saturday, Ukrainian drones struck targets across Russia, with Reuters reporting at least 10 deaths in Russia and Russian-controlled areas. The Russian Ministry of Defense also claimed that its forces intercepted 457 Ukrainian drones during the assault. Among the targets was an Ozon logistics facility in Chapayevsk in Russia’s Samara region.
Ozon is one of the largest online retailers in Russia and now appears to be in Ukrainian crosshairs after dozens of attacks on warehouses owned by its competitor, Wildberries.
Ukraine also said it attacked an oil refinery at Novokuibyshevsk, where a fire was reported following the strike. Other attacks caused casualties in areas including Belgorod, Bryansk, Yeysk, occupied Luhansk, and Sevastopol in Russian-occupied Crimea. The strikes continue Ukraine’s deliberate strategy targeting Russian oil production and energy infrastructure, transportation networks, warehouses, ports, and other infrastructure that not only sustains the war effort but also props up the country’s fragile wartime economy.
Putin Threatens Economic Retaliation
The growing damage to Russia is now impossible for the Kremlin to ignore, and it has prompted a direct response and explicit warning from Vladimir Putin.
Speaking on Saturday, the Russian president accused Ukraine of opening a “Pandora’s box” by attacking Russian economic targets and warned that Moscow would respond by retaliating against sectors of the Ukrainian economy.
Speaking to Russian state television in an interview that aired this weekend, the Russian president also said that Kyiv had let the “genie out of the bottle” and warned that “the countermeasures will not be long in coming.”
“You’ll get them,” he said.
The warning suggests that Russia could soon begin escalating against critical infrastructure that supports the Ukrainian economy and causes the same kind of damage and disruption currently being witnessed throughout Russia.
About the Author: Jack Buckby
Jack Buckby is a British researcher and analyst specializing in defense and national security, based in New York. His work focuses on military capability, procurement, and strategic competition, producing and editing analysis for policy and defense audiences. He brings extensive editorial experience, with a career output spanning over 1,000 articles at 19FortyFive and National Security Journal, and has previously authored books and papers on extremism and deradicalization.
