On Tuesday evening, September 23, 2026, Russian military forces carried out another strike on Zaporizhzhia. The 'Amstor' shopping center in the city's South microdistrict came under fire, and a large-scale fire broke out at the facility. This was reported by Mykhailo Semenyk, head of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration, in his Telegram channel, as cited by RBC-Ukraine. According to him, this is yet another "enemy strike on yet another shopping center."
Course of the Attack and Condition of the Facility
According to Semenyk's clarification, the roof of the shopping center caught fire as a result of the strike. The published footage shows that it was specifically the 'Amstor' mall that came under attack, which houses, among other things, the Fly Park entertainment complex and the JYSK store. The head of the Regional Military Administration emphasized that the enemy "continues to terrorize the residents of Zaporizhzhia, destroying food supplies and people's jobs." Thus, the attack affected not only residential infrastructure but also retail and service facilities where the city's residents work and are served.
Casualties and Response of Emergency Services
The initial report on the aftermath made no mention of casualties — no information on them had been received at the time of the first statement. Later, Semenyk clarified that two men were injured as a result of the strike on the shopping center, and that medical personnel are providing them with all the necessary assistance. Thus, the picture regarding casualties changed as data from the scene came in: from the absence of confirmed information to the recording of two injured men.
Contradictory Data
There are discrepancies between the statements and publications of different outlets in assessing the scale of the damage. In Semenyk's official message, it is stated that the "roof is on fire" of the shopping center, meaning the fire is localized in the roof section of the facility. At the same time, a number of media outlets (in particular, glavred.info) characterize the situation more categorically — as "10,000 square meters on fire" and "burned to the ground." These formulations may reflect both a different degree of destruction and a difference in the timing of event recording (the start of the fire versus its development). There is also a dynamic in the number of casualties: initially, no injured were reported, and then two injured men were confirmed. Until an official summary is received, the exact extent of the material damage and the final list of casualties remain subject to clarification.
Context: A Series of Strikes on Zaporizhzhia
The attack on 'Amstor' became a continuation of a series of shelling of the city. As noted in the same message, on the night of September 21, Russian military forces also struck Zaporizhzhia: at that time, multi-story residential buildings, a shopping center, and an educational institution were damaged, and fires broke out at the attack sites. Repeated strikes on commercial and social facilities indicate a persistent trend of attacks on civilian infrastructure, which exacerbates the humanitarian burden on the city and its residents.
