16 Killed, Scores Hurt After Russian Missile Struck Shopping Mall, Ukraine Says

At least 16 people were killed and 59 others were injured when two Russian missiles struck a packed retail centre in Kremenchuk, Ukraine, on Monday, officials said.

Emergency services in Ukraine reported at least 16 fatalities and 59 injuries.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy stated that more than a thousand people were in the mall at the time of the attack, which, according to witnesses, produced a massive fire and billowed thick smoke into the sky.

A reporter observed the burned remains of a shopping center with its roof collapsed. As they looked for survivors, firefighters and troops were extracting twisted metal debris.

As firemen battled to extinguish the fire, the mall was engulfed in a wall of flame that transformed into dense clouds of smoke. Aerial photographs depicted the structure as twisted metal, with employees sifting through expanding piles of debris.

"It is inconceivable to imagine the number of victims... It is futile to expect empathy and decency from Russia," Zelenskiy said in a message using the Telegram app.

Before Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Kremenchuk, an industrial city with a population of 217,000, was home to the country's largest oil refinery.

As dusk fell, rescuers hauled in flashlights and generators to continue the search. Concerned family members, some on the verge of tears and with their hands over their lips, waited up at a hotel across the street from the shopping center where rescue workers had established a base.

As rescuers continued to sift through the rubble, Dmytro Lunin, the governor of the central Poltava area, said on Telegram that it was too early to determine the ultimate death toll.

"This is an act of terrorism against people," he said separately, implying that there was no close military objective that Russia could have been targeting.

At one point, paramedics raced into the building after rescuers yelled "200," indicating that they had discovered at least one body inside. As air raid sirens sounded again, reporters were eventually moved away from the scene.

Kiril Zhebolovsky, 24 years old, was searching for his 22-year-old friend Ruslan, who worked at an electronics store and had not been heard from since the explosion. "We sent him texts and called, but got no response," he stated. 

He provided his name and phone number with the rescue officials in case his friend was discovered.

Roman, a 28-year-old mall employee, said that the mall's management just let stores to remain open during air raid sirens three days ago.