Russian President Vladimir Putin denied charges of deliberately targeting civilians in the war and the air strike on a shopping mall in Kremenchuk recently was not targeted at the mall but on a weapons depot nearby.
Moscow claimed that they did not attack Kremenchuk with missiles but it had struck a nearby depot of US and European arms triggering an explosion which ignited a fire in the mall. A Russian news agency quoted him saying, "Nobody just fires at fields. The Russian army does not strike any civilian objects. There is no need for this. We have all the possibilities to determine what is where, and we achieve these goals with modern high-precision long-range weapons.”
At least 20 persons reportedly got killed and over 50 persons were injured in the air strike on a shopping mall in Kremenchukon Tuesday. Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky said because of the massive fire that broke out after the Russian strike, there is no hope to find any survivors under the debris of the attacked mall. He told presspersons gtht remains of the Soviet long-range X-22 missile at the site.