Serhiy "Flash" Beskrestnov, the President of Ukraine's adviser on technology issues, told Radio NV in an interview that the Russian side is preparing targeted strikes on major retail chains on Ukrainian territory. According to him, shopping mall visitors will have literally one to two minutes to leave the building after an air raid alert. Beskrestnov emphasized that the enemy "has no moral restrictions or red lines whatsoever," and urged citizens to leave shopping facilities immediately upon the declaration of an alert.

Narrowing the evacuation time window

The key point of Beskrestnov's statement is the radical reduction of the time allotted for evacuation. The President's adviser explained that the previous scenario, in which people had around ten minutes after an air raid alert to reach shelter, is no longer relevant. "Everything is changing now. We now have ballistic missiles — that's one minute, and literally a minute or two — if it's a jet-powered Shahed. You hear the air raid alert signals, and somewhere in five, seven, ten minutes — a Shahed can already attack a shopping mall," he stated. Thus, the actual window for safely leaving the building shrinks to one to two minutes in the case of ballistic weapons and to five to ten minutes in the case of a drone attack of the Shahed type.

Priority targets: "Epicenters," not "ATB" or "Fara"

Beskrestnov detailed exactly which facilities are in a high-risk zone. In his assessment, the Russians will not use ballistic missiles or dozens of suicide drones against the "ATB" or "Fara" chains, however major retail chains that function as warehouse stores are becoming priority targets. "And we are now seeing what is happening in Odesa: the Russians have started attacking precisely the Epicenters, because these are very large retail chains," the President's adviser noted, referring to a recent statement he made about visiting an Epicenter about a week earlier. The threat, he said, extends to both Kyiv and the frontline territories.

The Kropyvnytskyi precedent: a double strike on the "Sun Gallery"

An illustration of the stated tactics was the incident of August 21, 2026, in Kropyvnytskyi, where Russian drones deliberately struck the "Sun Gallery" shopping center. According to available data, enemy drones attacked the facility twice: the second strike came at the moment when rescuers and emergency service personnel had already arrived at the scene of the first explosion. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the shelling of the shopping center "absolute savagery" and promised a "stern response" to the enemy. This incident, which occurred a few days before Beskrestnov's statement, effectively confirmed his thesis about the targeted nature of strikes on commercial infrastructure.

Contradictory data

When comparing the wording in different sources and in Beskrestnov's own interview, a minor discrepancy in the time frames is noted. On the one hand, the President's adviser speaks of "literally a minute or two" for evacuation and of ballistic missiles giving "one minute." On the other hand, in the same interview he states that a Shahed is capable of attacking a shopping mall in "five to seven to ten minutes" after the alert signal. Various Ukrainian media outlets reported these figures differently: RBC-Ukraine and Focus.ua emphasize "one to two minutes," while ZN.ua and Glavred highlight the wording "no longer ten, but a few minutes." Most likely, the discussion concerns two different scenarios (ballistic missiles vs. UAVs), however in the public space this creates confusion about exactly how much time is allotted for evacuation depending on the type of threat. Independent verification of the claims about the "preparation" of specific strikes by the Russian armed forces is currently absent — the information relies exclusively on the assessment of a Ukrainian official.

Recommendations for citizens

The combination of the President's adviser's statements and the facts of attacks on retail infrastructure forms a clear recommendation: upon the declaration of an air raid alert, it is necessary to leave shopping centers immediately, without waiting for clarification of the nature of the threat. Beskrestnov directly indicated that the previous practice of "ten minutes for evacuation" is outdated, and the real window for safely exiting the building under the use of ballistic missiles or high-speed UAVs is from one to two minutes. The threat, in his assessment, is not limited to frontline regions and extends to all major cities, including Kyiv.