In Kryvyi Rih, the search and rescue operation at the site of the shopping center "Solnechnaya Galereya," destroyed by a Russian strike, has continued for four days in a row. To reinforce the efforts, specially trained service dogs have been brought to the city: eight four-legged specialists, together with their handlers, arrived from Sumy, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Poltava regions, as well as from Dnipro. The search for people does not stop for a moment, as living people may still be trapped under the rubble.
Day Four of the Search: Four-Legged Specialists Come to the Rescue
As rescuers report, the dog-handler teams are working under extremely difficult conditions: among reinforced concrete debris, broken glass and twisted metal, the dogs carefully inspect hard-to-reach cavities and piles of rubble that neither humans nor heavy engineering equipment can reach. It is precisely thanks to their keen sense of smell and ability to enter narrow spaces that the four-legged animals help detect signs of life where the human eye and machinery are powerless.
The Scale of the Operation: Figures from the Scene of the Tragedy
As of the fourth day, the dog-handler teams have inspected more than 1,000 square meters of the area, while State Emergency Service (SES) rescuers have already cleared 1,900 square meters of damaged structures. At the scene of the tragedy, 185 emergency workers and 42 units of special equipment are operating simultaneously. Meanwhile, the search continues without pause: three people, including one child, are still missing.
How Events Unfolded: From the Strike to the Rescue
As a reminder, on August 21, Russian occupiers carried out a deliberate strike on the "Solnechnaya Galereya" shopping center in Kryvyi Rih. Enemy drones attacked the civilian object twice, with the second strike landing at the moment when rescuers and emergency services had already arrived at the site of the first explosion. As a result of the attack, 16 people were killed and another 136 were injured, including 26 children. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the shelling of the shopping center "absolute barbarism" and promised a firm response.
The Threat of New Strikes on Civilian Objects
Particularly noteworthy is the fact that Ukrainian intelligence has data on Russia's preparations for new strikes on shopping centers in frontline cities, including possible further provocations and shelling of civilian objects in Kryvyi Rih. Against this backdrop, the rescue operation and the search for the missing continue around the clock, and the deployment of dog-handler teams from various regions shows that the authorities are not intending to stop the work until every person under the rubble is found.
