World leaders condemn ‘abominable’ Russian attack
on Ukraine shopping centre
G7 leaders say they ‘stand united with Ukraine in
mourning the innocent victims’ of Kremenchuk attack as rescue efforts continue
It took 300 emergency workers more than four hours to
extinguish the flames after the Russian missile strike on a shopping centre in
Kremenchuk, central Ukraine.
Lorenzo
Tondo in Kremenchuk and Pjotr Sauer in Kyiv
Tue 28 Jun
2022 03.37 BST
Leaders
around the world have denounced Russia’s deadly strike on a shopping centre in
Kremenchuk, Ukraine, as “abominable” and a war crime, amid growing
international outrage at the attack.
Rescue
efforts are underway and the search for survivors continues after the missile
strike on a busy shopping centre in central Ukraine that had more than 1,000
people in it at the time, according to President Volodoymyr Zelenskiy.
The
Ukrainian defence ministry said the strike was deliberately timed to coincide
with the mall’s busiest hours and cause the maximum number of victims.
So far, 16
people are known to have been killed and 59 injured, Serhiy Kruk, the head of
Ukraine’s state emergency service, said early on Tuesday. Dozens of missing
persons reports have been filed.
In a joint
statement, the leaders of the G7 condemned the “abominable attack” and noted
that attacks aimed at civilians were a “war crime”.
“We stand
united with Ukraine in mourning the innocent victims of this brutal attack.
Indiscriminate attacks on innocent civilians constitute a war crime. Russian
president Putin and those responsible will be held to account.
“Today, we
underlined our unwavering support for Ukraine in the face of the Russian
aggression, an unjustified war of choice that has been raging for 124 days.”
They said
they would “continue to provide financial, humanitarian as well as military
support for Ukraine, for as long as it takes”.
“We will
not rest until Russia ends its cruel and senseless war on Ukraine.”
Separately,
French president Emmanuel Macron called the attack an “abomination”, saying:
“We share the pain of the victims’ families, and the anger in the face of such
an atrocity. The Russian people have to see the truth:”
UN
spokesman Stephane Dujarric said: “It is deplorable, to say the least. Any sort
of civilian infrastructure, which includes obviously shopping malls, and
civilians should never ever be targeted.”
Ukraine’s
air force command said Russia hit the mall, which is located near a railway
station, with two X-22 cruise missiles that were fired by an unspecified number
of Tu-22M long-range bombers.
Mykola
Lukash, from the Kremenchuk district prosecutor’s office, said cranes would be
brought in on Tuesday to help lift the collapsed roof of the shopping centre.
“We haven’t found any children’s bodies. A lot of bodies are burnt. We need to
carry out DNA tests.”
Speaking at
2am local time on Tuesday, emergency services chief Kruk said work was
continuing at the site. He said: “The main tasks currently performed by
rescuers are to carry out rescue operations, dismantle debris and eliminate
fires. So far, 16 people have been killed and 59 injured, 25 of whom have been
hospitalised.”
Zelenskiy
said on Telegram that the number of victims was “unimaginable”. He wrote: “The
occupiers fired missiles at the shopping centre, where there were more than a
thousand civilians. The mall is on fire, rescuers are extinguishing the fire,
the number of victims is unimaginable. Russia continues to take out its
impotence on ordinary citizens. It is useless to hope for decency and humanity
from Russia.”
On Monday
night, emergency workers and soldiers continued to comb through blackened
debris and twisted metal. “We pulled out several bodies, but there are
definitely more trapped under the rubble,” said Oleksii, 46, a firefighter. “This
is normally a very crowded place.”
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