Almost two dozen people were still missing Tuesday one day after a Russian airstrike struck a Ukrainian shopping mall and killed 18 civilians inside.
Exhausted firefighters sifted through rubble seeking at least 21 people after the devastating attack on the central city of Kremenchuk.
On top of the 18 dead and 21 people missing, Ukrainian Interior Minster Denis Monastyrsky said 59 were injured. Several of the dead were burned beyond recognition.
“There was a black tunnel, smoke, fire,” an employee of the mall told the AP from his hospital bed.
“I started to crawl. I saw that sun up there, and my brain was telling me I need to save myself.”
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said the bombing was “one of the most daring terrorist attacks in European history.”
Ukraine accused Moscow of purposely targeting civilians. Russia claimed that the strike hit an arms depot and insisted the mall was empty. --->READ MORE HERE
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| AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky |
The mall was nothing extraordinary, but in the middle of a war it was an escape for those in this Ukrainian city who had decided not to flee. Then it exploded in a Russian airstrike.
In moments on Monday afternoon, a summer hangout became a hellish inferno. Life and death depended on a shopper’s decision whether to heed yet another air raid siren and take shelter. Among those who stayed, at least 18 are dead, more than 20 are missing and scores are wounded.
The crowded mall in Kremenchuk, which housed the largest toy store in town, is now the latest shorthand for allegations of war crimes against Russia. As with earlier attacks on a theater, a train station and a hospital elsewhere in Ukraine, authorities in Moscow said the mall was not the target.
One day after the airstrike, the scene still smelled of charred debris. Grit hung in the air, irritating the skin and throats. Visitors laid red carnations, a spot of color in the still-smoking ruins.
Images on social media showed the burned body of a woman, white sneakers still intact, who appeared to have been caught in the blast as she tried to run. In another video, around the time of impact, a man could be heard calling for his mother. --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to +++++relevant+++++ and related stories:
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