Aerial photos show the destruction caused by a Russian rocket attack on a Ukrainian shopping mall that killed at least 18 people.
After Monday’s attack, rescuers continue to search for the ruins of a shopping mall in Kremenchuk, in central Ukraine.
More than 60 people were injured in what Ukraine’s president called “one of the most courageous terrorist attacks in European history.”
President Volodymyr Zelensky said many of the mall’s more than 1,000 shoppers and workers managed to escape.
However, if rescue teams set fire to debris on the ground, the death toll is expected to rise.
As rescuers dug up broken metal and concrete for the victims, huge plumes of black smoke, dust and orange flames rose from the rubble.
The plane was turning upside down, and a few hours after the fire was out, there was still a cloud of dark smoke rising from the debris.
Ambulance Service spokesman Volodymyr Hitchkan said:
At Ukraine’s request, the UN Security Council called an emergency meeting in New York on Tuesday to discuss the attack.
In the Russian government’s first comment on the rocket attacks, the UN’s first permanent representative, Dmitry Polyansky, said on Twitter that many of the contradictions he did not identify were provocations to Ukraine.
Russia has repeatedly denied targeting private infrastructure, despite Russia’s four-month war onslaught against other shopping malls, theaters, hospitals, schools and homes.
Zelensky said the mall “did not threaten the Russian military” and “had no strategic value.”
He accused Russia of “trying to get people to lead a normal life, which upsets the occupiers.”
In his overnight speech, he said Russian troops appeared to be deliberately targeting the mall.
“Russia’s attack on the Clementuk shopping center today is one of the most courageous terrorist attacks in European history,” he said, adding that Russia “has become the largest terrorist organization in the world.”
Russia is increasingly using long-range bombers in the war.
Ukrainian officials say Russian Tu-22M3 long-range bombers flying in the western part of Kursk, Russia, launched missiles, one hitting a shopping mall and the other hitting a sports stadium in Clementuk. ..
Monday’s attack mirrors an earlier Russian attack that killed dozens of civilians.
In March, the Mariupol Theatre, which was used as a private shelter, was attacked, killing around 600 people, and in April, an attack on a train station in eastern Kramatorsk killed at least 59 people.
“Russia remains powerless for the general public. Their hope for dignity and humanity is useless,” Zelensky said.
The United Nations called the move “unfortunate” and stressed that private infrastructure “should never be targeted.”
Leaders of the Group of Seven also blamed the attack in a statement released late Monday, saying “indiscriminate attacks on innocent civilians are war crimes.” Russian President Vladimir Putin and officials are responsible.
This attack was consistent with Russia’s attack on the last Ukrainian base in Luhansk Oblast in eastern Ukraine.
Luhansk Governor Serhi Haidai said at least eight people were killed and more than 20 wounded when Russian missiles hit an area where people were gathering to draw water from tanks.
The shooting was part of an intensified attack by Russian troops aiming to occupy the eastern Donbas region from Ukraine.
Over the weekend, Russian troops and their local separatist allies expelled Ukrainian government troops from the neighboring town of Sievierodnetsky in Lysychans’k.
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Source: Metro
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