Ukraine shopping mall attack leaves at least 11 dead

At least 11 people died after a missile hit a shopping mall in Kremenchuk, a city in central Ukraine, on Monday. There are reports of at least 58 injured.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy chief of staff to President Volodymyr Zelensky, said there was a rescue team working at the scene.

The attack caused a number of civilian casualties “impossible to imagine”, the Ukrainian president himself reported as soon as information about the bombing was released. “The shopping center is on fire, firefighters are trying to put out the fire, the number of victims is impossible to imagine,” Zelensky said on Telegram.

The city’s mayor, Vitaliy Meletskiy, added on Facebook that the shopping center was a “very busy” place and assured that “there are dead and injured”, without specifying.

The Ukrainian president said the commercial center did not pose “danger” to the Russian army nor did it have “any strategic value”. “It’s just an attempt by people to live a normal life, which makes the occupiers very angry. Russia continues to attribute its powerlessness to ordinary citizens. It is useless to expect adequacy and humanity from them,” added Zelensky.