The Ukrainian government
released a video of a missile hitting a mall on Monday.
“As of the evening of
June 28, the total number of Russian missiles that have hit Ukrainian cities
are estimated at 2,811,” the Defense of Ukraine posted on Twitter.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
called the attack an “unimaginable” number of victims in “one of
the most daring terrorist attacks in European history.”
Zelenskky said that many of
the more than 1,000-afternoon shoppers and staff inside the mall managed to
escape. Giant plumes of black smoke, dust and orange flames emanated from the
wreckage, with emergency crews rushing in to search broken metal and concrete
for victims and put out fires. Onlookers watched in distress at the sight of
how an everyday activity such as shopping could turn into a horror.
The casualty figures were
changing as rescuers searched the smoldering rubble into early Tuesday.
Ukraine’s emergency services reported late Monday that at least 16 people were
dead and about 60 wounded.
Soldiers worked into the night
to lug sheets of twisted metal and broken concrete, as one drilled into what
remained of the shopping center’s roof. Drones whirred above, clouds of dark
smoke still emanating from the ruins several hours after the fire had been put
out.
“We are working to
dismantle the construction so that it is possible to get machinery in there
since the metal elements are very heavy and big, and disassembling them by hand
is impossible,” said Volodymyr Hychkan, an emergency services official.
At Ukraine’s request, the U.N.
Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting in New York on Tuesday to
discuss the attack.
In the first Russian government
comment on the missile strike, the country’s first deputy permanent
representative to the United Nations, Dmitry Polyansky, alleged multiple
inconsistencies that he didn’t specify, claiming on Twitter that the incident
was a provocation by Ukraine. Russia has repeatedly denied it targets civilian
infrastructure, even though Russian attacks have hit other shopping malls,
theaters, hospitals, kindergartens and apartment buildings.
The missile strike unfolded as
Western leaders pledged continued support for Ukraine, and the world’s major
economies prepared new sanctions against Russia, including a price cap on oil
and higher tariffs on goods. Meanwhile, the U.S. appeared ready to respond to
Zelenskyy’s call for more air defense systems, and NATO planned to increase the
size of its rapid-reaction forces nearly eightfold — to 300,000 troops.
Zelenskyy said the mall
presented “no threat to the Russian army” and had “no strategic
value.” He accused Russia of sabotaging “people’s attempts to live a
normal life, which make the occupiers so angry.”
In his nightly address, he
said it appeared Russian forces had intentionally targeted the shopping center
and added, “Today’s Russian strike at a shopping mall in Kremenchuk is one
of the most daring terrorist attacks in European history.” He said Russia
“has become the largest terrorist organization in the world.”
