Russia explains fire at Kremenchug shopping mall

The rocket attack in Kremenchug, the Poltava region of Ukraine, was carried out on a hangar with foreign weapons inside, the Russian Defense Ministry said. The explosion of ammunition inside the hangar led to the fire at the "non-functioning” shopping center nearby, the ministry explained.

"A high-precision air-based weapon hit the hangars with weapons and ammunition received from the United States and European countries in the area of ​​the Kremenchug road vehicles plant,” the Defense Ministry said. "As a result of the precision strike, Western-made weapons and ammunition located in the storage area for further shipment to the Ukrainian troops in the Donbass were destroyed.”

The day before, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky announced that rockets had hit a shopping center in Kremenchug. According to him, there were about a thousand people inside. Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Dzhaparova specified that the fire sparked at Amstor shopping center, 300 meters from the railway station.

A fire broke out in the mall after the strike. The head of the Poltava Regional Military Administration, Dmitry Lunin, said on the morning of June 28 that the death toll had reached 18, with 36 more missing.

The Russian Defence Ministry has repeatedly stated that they do not attack civilian targets in Ukraine.