A Russian missile strike on a busy shopping mall in Ukraine's Kremenchuk city has killed at least 16 persons and injured over 50. The US condemned the attack on civilians.
The Kyiv Independent reported quoting Serhiy Ivanovich, Head of State Emergency Service The area of the fire reached 10,300 square meters. The number of casualties is expected to rise as rescuers continue their search for victims, Maksym Kovaliev, press officer of the Poltava Oblast administration told the publication.
Ukrainian Air Force reported that the missiles that hit the shopping centre were launched from Russia's Kursk Oblast. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the incident one of the most defiant terrorist attacks in European history. “Only totally insane terrorists, who should have no place on earth, can strike missiles at such an object. And this is not an off-target missile strike, this is a calculated Russian strike - exactly at this shopping mall,” Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy said “The Russian state has become the largest terrorist organization in the world. And this must be a legal fact. And everyone in the world must know that buying or transporting Russian oil, maintaining contacts with Russian banks, paying taxes and customs duties to the Russian state means giving money to terrorists.”
Condemning the attack, US President Joe Biden said, "Russia's attack on civilians at a shopping mall is cruel. We stand in solidarity with the Ukrainian people," he said. He added Russia will be held accountable for such atrocities.