At least 18 people were killed and 59 injured in a rocket attack on Monday on a shopping center in Kremenzhok. In addition, the remains of eight unknown people were found.
At least 36 are missing, according to Ukrainian authorities. The hope of finding more survivors in the rubble fades with each passing hour.
TV 2 was on site immediately after the attack on Monday and could witness the start of clean-up work. Several of the dead were straight recovered.
Hate grows
On Tuesday, people flocked to lay flowers in memory of the victims. They describe the situation as shocking and unrealistic. Hate against the Russians is growing.
– Terrible. My brother and father were close when this happened. I was very scared, says Marina Shaljahova for TV 2.
Flows to: Lots of people came to the place and laid flowers on Tuesday. Photo: Pål S. Schaathun/TV 2
– I don’t know the words. I didn’t sleep all night. I hate Russia and everything they do to us. It’s awful, says the young woman, shaking her head.
She is convinced that the Russians intended to bomb the mall where there were civilians.
– I know how much he must have been here. Whether in or around the mall. My heart is beating fast and I can’t arrange all my thoughts, she says with tears in her throat.
Wounded: A couple injured in Monday’s attack are in a city hospital. Photo: Reuters / Anna Voitenko
– Supernatural monsters from another galaxy
– Russians aren’t even monsters. They are like supernatural monsters from another galaxy. It is difficult to understand that they are human. Andrei Lyashenko tells TV 2 that they are not God’s creatures.
He says that he himself was born in the Soviet Union, but in his adult life he never thought that such a thing could happen.
Ethnicities: Andrei Lyashenko believes that it is difficult to understand that Russians are God’s creatures. Photo: TV 2
– We always thought that Russia was our friend, but now we see that this is not true.
– I believe in God, and therefore I am not afraid. Lyachenko says he wants to save us.
Russian President Vladimir Putin himself denied that Russia was behind the missile attack, but independent sources dispute this.
Human Rights Watch reported that a Russian missile hit the mall – which was open to civilian commerce.
“The incident should be investigated as a possible war crime, and if Russian authorities do not, the International Criminal Court and other investigative bodies should do so,” said senior Ukrainian researcher Yulia Gorbunova at Human Rights Watch.
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According to the Ukrainian authorities, the X-22 missiles were used by a Russian Tu-22 bomber over the Russian Kursk region.
Attack: Here, the X-22 missile is the second before it hits the mall. Photo: Telegram / Zelenskyj
Russia also claimed that the missile hit an arms depot near the mall, and then caught fire in the mall, which the Ukrainian authorities denied:
– Today I want to end this speech with evidence, so that no one dares to be deceived about the missile attack on the shopping center in Krementsjuk, says Zelenskyj in a statement posted on Telegram.
Pressure wave: The explosion caused violent tremors in the city.
The Russian missile hit precisely this target. with intent. Of course that was the arrangement. It is clear that the Russian assassins received the coordinates of this missile. The president said they wanted to kill as many as possible in a peaceful city, in a normal mall.
Authorities estimate that between 200 and 1,000 people were in the building when the attack occurred.
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