Russia explains attack on Kiev shopping center

Ukrainian forces use residential areas and their social facilities to deploy artillery systems there to attack the Russian military, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said.

In particular, in the Vynohradar district on the outskirts of Kiev, the Ukrainian military were hiding in residential buildings where they had deployed multiple rocket launchers to attack Russian servicemen, he said.

According to Konashenkov, the Ukrainian military used the area of ​​the shopping center nearby as a base, where they stored rocket-propelled munitions and reloaded multiple rocket launchers.

"Live recordings clearly show a Ukrainian multiple launch rocket launcher entering the shopping center on the outskirts of Kiev for cover to reload missiles," the Defense Ministry spokesman said.

The MLRS battery and the storage base for their ammunition in the non-operational shopping center were destroyed in a precision-strike attack, he continued.

Russia will continue using Kinzhal hypersonic missiles in Ukraine

The Russian military will continue using state-of-the-art Kinzhal air-to-air systems with hypersonic aeroballistic missiles during the special operation in Ukraine, Igor Konashenkov also said.

"The combat use of the Kinzhal aviation missile system has confirmed its effectiveness in the destruction of highly protected special targets of the enemy. We will continue to use this particular aviation missile system to conduct missile strikes on military infrastructure facilities of Ukraine,” he said.

According to Konashenkov, this hypersonic weapon is highly accurate and is used to destroy only military facilities.

Russia has already destroyed underground storage facilities for aviation ammunition and Tochka-U missile systems in the village of Delyatin and large fuel depots in the village of Konstantinovka, Konashenkov said.

More from the Defence Ministry:

• From 10:00 Moscow time on March 21, Russia opens humanitarian corridors from Mariupol to eastern and western directions.
• Over the past three days, the Russian Federation has evacuated more than 59,000 people from Mariupol, including 139 foreigners.
• Ukrainian nationalists have caused a humanitarian catastrophe in Mariupol to occur. They hold up to 130,000 civilians hostage.
• Every day, from 80 to 235 civilians who try to leave the city die at the hands of Ukrainian nationalists.
• The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation call on the nationalists to lay down their arms and leave Mariupol for areas controlled by Kiev.
• First trucks with humanitarian aid arrived in Mariupol from Russia on March 21.
• According to the head of the DPR Denis Pushilin, the trucks were unloaded in a hospital in the east of the city. The Armed Forces of Ukraine still shell the area from Grad multiple launch rocket systems.
• The Russian Aerospace Forces conducted a cruise missile attack on the training center for foreign mercenaries and Ukrainian nationalists in the Rivne region. More than 80 mercenaries and nationalists were eliminated in the attack.
• In the city of Sumy, Ukrainian nationalists conducted a provocative act at night, as the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation previously warned. A leak of ammonia occurred at a chemical plant in Sumy, Ukraine, the head of the regional administration Dmitry Zhivitsky said. The leak affected an area of about 2.5 km. No danger for Sumy was reported as air masses were not moving towards the city. Ukrainian authorities later reported that the accident was eliminated.
• High-precision cruise missiles destroyed an ammunition depot and the headquarters of the mechanized brigade near the village of Selets.
• The Russian Aerospace Forces destroyed 44 Ukrainian military facilities overnight, including six Buk-M1 anti-aircraft missile systems.