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The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed the strike on Kremenchuk, during which a shopping center was hit. The ministry claimed a missile hit a munitions depot, stating that the shopping center was «not functioning» and that the fire was caused by «the detonation of the munitions stored at the plant nearby.»
“On June 27 in the city of Kremenchuk, Poltava region, the Russian Air Force carried out a high-precision airborne weapon strike on hangars with arms and ammunition received from the United States and European countries, near the Kremenchug road-building machinery plant. As a result of the high-precision strike, Western-made weapons and ammunition stored in the area for subsequent delivery to Ukrainian troops in Donbas were hit. The detonation of the ammunition stockpiles intended for Western-made weapons caused a fire in a non-functioning shopping center located next to the plant,” the ministry said in a statement.
Noviye Izdaniye reports, citing the city mayor, that the management of the shopping center did not close it during air raid alerts.
It is known that at least 18 people were killed in the explosion at the Amstor shopping center, and 36 are considered missing. Earlier, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russian missiles had hit the shopping center with more than a thousand people on the premises. The Insider’s correspondent added that the shopping center is located across the street from the Kredmash plant, which manufactures asphalt and concrete production equipment. Russia fired a total of three missiles, two of which hit the shopping center and the third hit the factory.
Vladimir Zelenski, in his evening address, called Russia the world’s largest terrorist organization. Speaking about the missile attack on the shopping center in Kremenchuk, Zelensky said that “only absolutely brain-dead terrorists” could have done such a thing.