On 25 March 2018 at 16:00 local time (9:00 UTC), a fire engulfed the Winter Cherry shopping mall and entertainment complex (Russian: Зимняя вишня, romanized: Zimnyaya vishnya) in Kemerovo, Russia.

[5][6] According to the Russian authorities, the source of these rumors was a Ukrainian prankster who called the morgue posing as an emergency services officer.

[6][7][8] The Winter Cherry shopping and entertainment complex (Russian: торгово-развлекательный комплекс «Зимняя вишня», romanized: torgovo-razvlekatelny kompleks "Zimnyaya vishnya") is a mall in Kemerovo, Russia.

The mall, which was converted from a former communist-era confectionery factory,[9] opened in 2013 with 23,000 square meters of space, which included a petting zoo, children's center and bowling alley.

[10] The building was described as a labyrinth with few windows and points of entrance to the upper levels, with one main staircase, one lift shaft and one escalator.

One deceased child's aunt recounted their conversation during the fire in which the victim stated; "everything burns and the doors are locked in the cinema.

Thirteen people were hospitalized after the incident with the Russian Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova claiming the most gravely injured was an 11-year-old boy who jumped from a fourth-floor window.

[23] The mall security guards were cited for failing to promptly turn the voice alert system on and that there is no reasonable explanation as to why that occurred.

[21] Kemerovo Oblast deputy governor Vladimir Chernov said that the preliminary suspicion is that a child had a cigarette lighter which ignited foam rubber in a children's trampoline room and erupted in the fashion of gunpowder.

[3] The Investigative Committee of Russia brought charges under part 3 of Article 293 of the Russian Criminal Code; dereliction of duty which by negligence led to the deaths of two or more persons, against the head of a firefighting unit No.2.

[35] In March 2019, construction of a park designed by architect John Calvin Weidman was started at the place of the demolished mall.