After the Kremlin stated the complex was “non-functioning,” Ukraine released harrowing new video showing people inside a shopping center when it was hit by a Russian missile on Monday.
The recently released video shows people scurrying and diving for cover as the rocket blasted into the building. It was shot by CCTV cameras around the Amstor mall in Kremenchuk, central Ukraine.
The moment the rocket struck, sending merchandise flying off the shelves and the shopkeeper rushing for safety, was caught on two cameras inside the same store.
Debris dropping on the ground outside the mall was captured by two more cameras on the complex’s outside.
Another exterior camera captured the moment the building was struck, showing smoke rising from it and two onlookers narrowly missing falling debris.
A different camera that was positioned to capture a parking lot caught the rocket just before it collided with the structure and created a big explosion.
The new video, which was made public by Ukraine’s security service, refutes Igor Konashenkov’s assertion that the mall was “non-functioning,” a spokesman for the Russian defense ministry.
Rescuers have issued a warning that the additional 21 individuals missing as of Wednesday are unlikely to have survived the blaze that destroyed the mall and caused the roof to collapse, which claimed at least 18 lives.
Finding victims is challenging since some bodies are so badly charred that they are unrecognizable.
Other video from the complex, which was made public this week, appears to show a guided AS-4 Kitchen missile, which was initially intended to destroy US aircraft carriers, slamming into the mall on Monday just before 4 p.m. local time.
More video, captured by cameras in a neighboring park, captured the second missile striking the Kredmash facility, which is located behind the mall. The missile destroyed four warehouses and rained down rubble on onlookers.
In what is being referred to as a war crime, Ukraine accuses Russia of attacking the center on Monday in Kremenchuk, which is located 205 miles southeast of Kyiv.
Russia disputes the charge and has previously asserted that the missile barrage was directed at an armaments stockpile and that the facility was not open at the time.
Some of the 18 victims whose deaths from the Russian missile strike on Monday have been officially confirmed will be laid to rest on Thursday.
Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, claimed that Russia has turned into a “terrorist” state following the attack on the retail center. He criticized NATO on Wednesday for not doing enough to support or arm his troubled nation.
Speaking via video link to NATO leaders meeting in Madrid, Mr. Zelensky said, “The open-door policy of NATO shouldn’t mirror old turnstiles on Kyiv’s subway, which stay open but close when you approach them until you pay.”
Hasn’t Ukraine made enough payment? Hasn’t our defense of Europe and the entire civilized world been enough?
He pleaded with the NATO leaders to provide Ukraine the assistance it required to beat Russia or else “risk a delayed conflict between Russia and yourselves.” He also requested more advanced artillery systems and other armaments.
Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, denied that a strike on the crowded mall was carried out by Moscow’s soldiers.
“Our army does not assault any infrastructure located in a residential area. In Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, Putin stated at a news conference that “We have every capability of understanding what is situated where.”
No one here shoots like that, at random. With “high-precision weapons,” it is typically done based on intelligence data on the targets.
Putin declared, “I am confident that this time, everything was done in this precise way.”
Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Moscow has maintained that since Putin sent its troops into Ukraine, people have not been a target.
Ukrainians have been shot, tortured, and raped on several occasions by Russian forces who have randomly bombed civilian targets.
Russia’s military operations are the subject of ongoing war crime investigations.
The Russian military initially asserted on Tuesday that it had attacked a weapons storage in central Ukraine the day before, with the ensuing explosions damaging a shuttered mall.
According to a statement from the Russian military, the attack targeted “a storage with weapons and ammunition from the USA and European countries in the neighborhood of the Kremenchuk automobile industry.”
The adjoining retail center, which wasn’t open at the time, caught fire due to blasts of ammunition for Western weaponry.
The Russian military’s assertion was supported by the Kremlin, which cited the defense ministry’s justifications as being “exhaustive.”
Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, said, “I have nothing to add.”
Despite one politician first accusing Ukraine of bombing its own citizens, Russia’s defense ministry acknowledged being behind the assault and said the factory was being used as a storage facility for western weapons that were being shipped to the Donbas.
It claimed the second missile actually struck a train station and denied hitting the mall.
However, Ukraine claims that Russia targeted the mall on purpose as part of a “terrorist attack” meant to terrorize civilians and that the factory, which among other things makes parts for civilian cars, was not storing any weapons.
Compared to Russia, footage from the facility more closely matches Kyiv’s claim.
One of President Zelensky’s senior advisors, Mykhailo Podolyak, who published some of the video online, said that the attack was intentional and intended to terrify the populace and inflict a large number of casualties.
The bombing of the busy shopping center was described by Pope Francis on Wednesday as the most recent in a series of “barbarous acts” on Ukraine.
Francis addressed the crowds in St. Peter’s Square on the feast of St. Peter and Paul, saying, “Every day, I carry in my heart dear and martyred Ukraine, which continues to be flagellated by barbarous attacks like the one that hit the shopping center in Kremenchuk.”
“I pray that this senseless war will end soon, and I reiterate my exhortation to continue praying for peace without giving up.
May the Lord open the channels for communication that men are either unwilling to pursue or unable to do so. May they not forget to assist the severely suffering Ukrainian population, he prayed.