KYIV, Ukraine, June 28, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - A Russian missile strike on a
crowded mall in the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk killed at least 16
people, the head of emergency services said early Tuesday, sparking
international outrage.

"The Russian strike today on the shopping centre in Kremenchuk is one of the
most brazen terrorist acts in European history," Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelensky said in his evening broadcast posted on Telegram.

Emergency services chief Sergiy Kruk said the main tasks were "rescue work,
debris removal and the elimination of fires" following Monday's strike on the
shopping centre.

"As of now, we know of 16 dead and 59 wounded, 25 of them hospitalised. The
information is being updated," Kruk said on Telegram.

"All response groups are working in intense mode," he said. "The work will go
on around the clock."

"I would like to stress once again: do not neglect air alerts!"

Earlier, Zelensky had said "over a thousand civilians" were in the mall when
the missiles struck the city, which had a pre-war population of 220,000
people.

"The mall is on fire, rescuers are fighting the fire. The number of victims
is impossible to imagine," Zelensky wrote on Facebook.

A video he shared showed the mall engulfed in flames, with dozens of rescuers
and a fire truck outside.

Emergency services also published images showing firefighters and rescuers
trying to clear debris from the smouldering remains of the building.

The Ukrainian defence ministry said the strike was deliberately timed to
coincide with the mall's busiest hours and cause the maximum number of
casualties.

- Growing international outrage -

The Ukrainian air force said the mall was hit by Kh-22 anti-ship missiles
fired from Tu-22 bombers in western Russia's Kursk region.

"The missile fire on Kremenchuk struck a very busy area which had no link to
the hostilities," the city's mayor Vitali Maletsky wrote on Facebook.

Dmytro Lunin, the governor of Poltava region where Kremenchuk is located,
denounced the attack as a "war crime" and a "crime against humanity", saying
it was a "cynical act of terror against the civilian population".

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called on Kyiv's allies to supply
more heavy weapons and impose fresh sanctions on Russia.

"Russia is a disgrace to humanity and it must face consequences," he wrote on
Twitter.

Presidential aide Mykhaylo Podolyak accused Russia of being a "terrorist
state".

There was also growing international outrage at the attack.

A statement from the G7 leaders gathered for a summit in Germany condemned
the missile strike as a "war crime".

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Twitter that "the world is
horrified by Russia's missile strike today, which hit a crowded Ukrainian
shopping mall -- the latest in a string of atrocities".

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the attack demonstrated the "depths
of cruelty and barbarism" of Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

"Russia's bombing of a shopping centre in Kremenchuk is an abomination,"
French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on Twitter in English.

"We share the pain of the victims' families, and the anger in the face of
such an atrocity. The Russian people have to see the truth."

Below the tweet, video footage of the blazing shopping centre, black smoke
pouring from it, was posted.