VIDEO: Russia attacks Ukrainian steel plant and Kiev book market. Zelensky asks for help

Russian missile and drone strikes hit the ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih plant and Kyiv’s Petrivka book market on Aug. 16, killing two workers and injuring 13 at the plant, the Kyiv Post reported.

ArcelorMittal’s press service said search and rescue operations were continuing at the mining and metallurgical facility, with firefighters, rescue workers and medical personnel involved. The strike damaged primary production facilities linked to energy and blast furnace operations, prompting a partial suspension of production while specialists assessed repairs.

The company said the plant is civilian industrial infrastructure. The facility was also hit by a Russian missile strike in 2022, which destroyed a rolling mill and killed one worker.

In Kyiv, overnight strikes caused a large fire at the Petrivka book market near Pochaina metro station in the Obolonskyi district. The State Emergency Service said the fire engulfed the market, burned down several rows of retail pavilions and destroyed inventory; it also said strikes caused fires and structural damage in the Holosiivskyi district.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian forces launched more than 1,550 attack drones, nearly 1,560 aerial bombs and 62 missiles, mostly ballistic, at Ukraine over the previous week. He said attacks targeted 13 regions and reported two deaths and 14 injuries in Kryvyi Rih citywide, one death in Sumy, and six injuries in Kyiv and the surrounding region.

Zelensky renewed calls for international partners to supply Ukraine with air defense systems. “When North Korean ballistic missiles destroy infrastructure and take lives here in Europe, European interceptors cannot simply remain in warehouses,” he said. “Protecting lives is necessary. Russia must be stopped. New packages mean literally saved lives and protected infrastructure every day.”