Two Russian rockets hit a busy shopping center in the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk on Monday, killing at least 13 people and injuring 50.
resident Volodymyr Zelenskyy said there were more than 1,000 people in the mall at the time of the attack, which according to witnesses sparked a massive fire and sent dark smoke into the air.
A Reuters reporter saw the charred shell of a shopping center with a collapsed roof. Firefighters and soldiers pulled out mangled pieces of metal as they searched for survivors.
“It is impossible to imagine the number of victims… There is no point in hoping for the decency and humanity of Russia,” Zelenskyy wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
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The shopping center hit by a Russian missile attack in Ukraine’s Kremenchuk. Photo: State Emergency Service of Ukraine/via Reuters
Dmytro Lunin, governor of the central Poltava region, wrote on Telegram that 13 people have now been killed by the strike, adding that it was too early to speak of a definitive death toll as rescuers continued to drag through the rubble.
Lunin also said 21 people had been hospitalized and 29 others had received emergency care without hospitalization.
“It is an act of terrorism against civilians,” he said separately, suggesting there was no military target nearby that Russia could have targeted.
At one point, paramedics burst into the building after rescuers yelled “200”, meaning they found one or more bodies inside the building. Reporters were later pushed off the scene when the air raid sirens blared again.
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The shopping center hit by a Russian missile attack in Ukraine’s Kremenchuk. Photo: State Emergency Service of Ukraine/via Reuters
As night fell, rescuers brought lights and generators to continue the search.
Concerned relatives, some almost in tears and clapping their mouths, lined up at a hotel across the street from the mall where rescuers had set up a base.
Kiril Zhebolovsky (24) was looking for his 22-year-old friend Ruslan who worked in an electronics store and had not been heard from since the explosion.
“We messaged him, called him, but nothing,” he said. He left his name and phone number with rescuers in case his friend is found.
A shopping center employee who gave his name to Roman, 28, told Reuters that just three days ago, the center’s management had allowed stores to remain open during air-raid sirens.
An industrial town of 217,000 inhabitants before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Kremenchuk is located on the Dnipro River in the Poltava region and is the site of Ukraine’s largest oil refinery.
The Ukrainian Air Force Command said the mall was hit by two long-range X-22 missiles fired by Tu-22M3 bombers flying from Shaykovka airport in Russia’s Kaluga region.
Russia’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Dmitry Polyanskiy, wrote on Twitter, without citing evidence, that the attack was a “Ukrainian provocation.”
“Just what the Kiev regime needs to keep its focus on Ukraine ahead of (the) NATO summit,” he said, referring to the alliance’s meeting in Madrid that will begin on Tuesday.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday that the upcoming summit will agree on a new aid package for Ukraine in areas “such as secure communications, anti-drone systems and fuel”.
“We need more weapons to protect our people, we need missile defense,” Andriy Yermak, head of the president’s office, wrote on Twitter after the attack.
Vadym Denysenko, an adviser to the Interior Ministry, said Russia may have three motives for the attack.
“The first is undoubtedly to create panic, the second is to… destroy our infrastructure, and the third is to… raise the stakes to put the civilized West back at the table for talks,” he said. . said.
Russia, which has taken the eastern Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk after a weeks-long attack, has stepped up missile strikes against Ukraine in recent days.
Rockets hit an apartment building on Sunday and landed close to a kindergarten in the Ukrainian capital Kiev, killing one person and injuring several others.
A Russian missile strike hit a busy shopping center in the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk on Monday, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.