Ukraine: At least 2 dead as Russian missile hits 'crowded' shopping mall in Kremenchuk

In a shocking development coming from central Ukraine, a Russian missile strike hit a crowded shopping centre in Kremenchuk city on Monday, killing at least two people and 20 were wounded. The casualties are likely to rise. Over 1,000 people were inside the mall at the time of the attack, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

"Russian strikes shopping centre in Kremenchuk, while over thousand people inside. The mall is on fire, firefighters are trying to extinguish the fire, the number of victims is impossible to imagine," Zelenskyy said while sharing devasting visuals, reported The Kyiv Independent.

After the incident, Deputy Head of the presidential office, Kyryl Tymoshenko, confirmed that at least two were dead and about 20 people were injured, of whom nine were in serious condition.

'Was no threat to Russian army': Zelenskyy

Zelenskyy stressed that the mall presented “no threat to the Russian army” and had “no strategic value.” He accused the Putin administration of sabotaging “people’s attempts to live a normal life, which make the occupiers so angry.”

Kremenchuk’s mayor Vitaliy Maletskiy also said that people have been killed in an attack on a mall which had no links to the armed forces. "A rocket attack on Kremenchuk hit a very crowded area, which is 100% certain not to have any links to the armed forces. There are killed and injured people," said the mayor, the AP reported.

The attack comes at a time when Russia was launching a full-scale assault on the last Ukrainian strong in the eastern Luhansk and, according to the local governor, "pouring fire" on the city of Lysychansk from the ground and the air. Leaders from the West vowed to continue to support Kyiv unwaveringly.

When NATO leaders meet in Spain for a summit, they will decide to provide Ukraine with more military assistance, including secure communication and anti-drone systems, according to NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.