Russian attacks cause visitor numbers at Ukrainian shopping centres to plummet

Semen Ruban — 31 August, 17:35

Ukrainians are visiting shopping centres less frequently due to the risk of Russian attacks. Photo: Getty Images

Visitor numbers at Ukrainian shopping centres have fallen significantly following massive Russian attacks on major retail facilities.

Source: Andrii Lototskyi, CEO of consulting company Retail & Development Advisor (RDA), as reported by LIGA.net

Quote from Lototskyi: "We are seeing a significant drop in traffic. A customer will think twice about whether they really need to go to a shopping centre."

Details: Lototskyi noted that this could result in lower sales and tenants struggling to pay their rent.

Since the start of the full-scale war, 38 Ukrainian shopping centres with a combined area of 1.4 million sq m had been damaged or destroyed as of the end of July.

Some facilities have been damaged more than once, including the Kvadrat and Blockbuster Mall shopping centres in Kyiv.

Serhii "Flash" Beskrestnov, an adviser to the Ukrainian president on technology, previously said Russia would continue trying to destroy large shopping centres and that people would have no more than two minutes to evacuate after an air-raid warning was issued.

Background:

On 21 August, Russian forces launched two drone strikes on a shopping centre in Kryvyi Rih, killing 16 people and injuring another 130, including 23 children.
On the night of 24-25 August, Russian forces attacked the Karavan shopping centre in Dnipro. On 28 August, it resumed operations.

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