JAKARTA - Two Russian missiles hit a busy shopping mall in the Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk, leaving at least 13 people dead and 50 injured, regional governors said on Monday.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said more than 1,000 people were in the shopping center at the time of the attack, which witnesses said caused a massive fire and sent black smoke billowing into the sky.
A Reuters reporter saw the charred husk of a shopping complex with a collapsed roof. Firefighters and soldiers pulled apart pieces of shattered metal as they searched for survivors.
"It is impossible to even imagine the number of victims. It is useless to expect decency and humanity from Russia," President Zelensky wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
Dmytro Lunin, governor of the central Poltava region, wrote on Telegram that 13 people had been confirmed dead from the attack, adding that it was too early to talk about the final death toll as rescue teams continued to search through the rubble.
Lunin also wrote on Telegram that around 21 people have been hospitalized, and another 29 have been given first aid without hospitalization.
"This is an act of terrorism against civilians," he said separately, indicating there were no nearby military targets that Russia could target.
At one point, paramedics rushed to the building after rescuers called "200" meaning they had found one or more bodies in the building. Journalists were then pushed away from the scene as air raid sirens blared again.
As night fell, rescue teams brought lights and generators to continue the search. Worried family members, some on the verge of tears and with their hands covering their mouths, lined up at a hotel across the street from the mall where rescue workers had set up a base.
Kiril Zhebolovsky, 24, was looking for his friend Ruslan, 22, who worked in an electronics store and had not been heard from since the explosion. "We texted him, called, but there was nothing," he said. He left his name and phone number with rescue workers in case his friend was found.
A mall worker surnamed Roman, 28, told Reuters the new mall management three days ago allowed shops to remain open during air raid sirens.
Kremenchuk, an industrial city of 217,000 before Russia's February 24 invasion of Ukraine, 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 from Tu-22M3 bombers flying from Shaykovka airfield in Russia's Kaluga region.
Separately, Russia's Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations, Dmitry Polyanskiy, wrote on Twitter, without citing evidence, that the attack was a "Ukrainian provocation."
"Exactly what the Kyiv regime in Ukraine needs to pay attention to before the NATO summit," he said, referring to the alliance's meeting in Madrid that will start on Tuesday.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday that the upcoming summit would agree on a new aid package for Ukraine in areas "such as secure communications, anti-drone systems, and fuel."
VOIR éGALEMENT:
"We need more weapons to protect our people, we need missile defense," Andriy Yermak, head of the presidential office, wrote on Twitter after the attack.
Vadym Denysenko, an adviser to the interior ministry, said Russia may have had three motives for the attack.
"The first, no doubt, is to sow panic, the second is to destroy our infrastructure, and the third is to raise the stakes to get the civilized West back at the negotiating table," he said.
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