According to Ukrainian officials, the Russian missile had struck on a Monday in a crowded shopping mall in Ukraine's central city of Kremenchuk.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has said in a Telegram post that the number of victims was "unimaginable" he fears that more than 1,000 civilians were inside at the time of the attack. Giant plumes of black smoke in the shopping center had appeared in the images.
The President has said that the target presented had "no threat to the Russian army" and had "no strategic value." He has also accused Russia of sabotaging "people's attempts to live a normal life, which makes the occupiers so angry." Even Ukraine's state emergency service has said that at least 20 civilians were wounded; unfortunately, two have died.
This Russian missile strike has carried echoes of attacks earlier in the war that caused many civilian casualties. Mayor Vitaliy Maletskiy has told on Facebook that the attack "hit a very crowded area, which is 100% certain not to have any links with the armed forces." And the President has said, "Russia continues to take its impotence on ordinary civilians. It is useless to hope for any decency and humanity on its part."
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This attack comes just as Russia mounted an assault on the last Ukrainian stronghold in the eastern province, Luhansk. According to the Governor of Luhansk Province is now a "pouring fire" in the city of Lysychansk from ground to air. Moscow continues to attack Ukraine with heavy bombs and missiles, while the West sends help to Kyiv, and the war continues.