'Genocidal Barbarism:' Russia Hits Crowded Ukraine Shopping Mall With Missiles

By Putin's demented logic, this sort of atrocity - not Russia's first in Ukraine and presumably not its last - makes sense. In a country ruled by fear and intimidation, exporting that to others who have the temerity to defy you is the inevitable result of their obstinacy. 

That his previous barbaric actions - including the invasion - have stiffened western resolve, united previously wary nations and rendered his nation's once feared army a global laughingstock seems not to occur to him and his shrinking band of sycophants. Aside, of course, from their ability to wreak havoc on the defenseless. The cruel irony is that just as some of the larger NATO nations like France and Germany were appearing to weary of this conflict, Putin has made it impossible for them to do anything other than double down on their efforts to thwart him. Perhaps he believes the more outrageous his behavior, the more likely the civilized world will recoil in horror. Or perhaps he just doesnt care. JL

Yulia Talmazan and colleagues report in NBC:

Ukraine said it feared scores of civilians might be dead or injured after a Russian missile strike hit a crowded shopping mall in the center of the country Monday. More than 1,000 people were inside at the time of the rocket attack. The missiles were fired from long-range bombers that took off from a Russian air base north of Ukraine. "The response from the world should be “more heavy arms for Ukraine, more sanctions on Russia and more businesses leaving Russia.”

Ukraine said it feared scores of civilians might be dead or injured after a Russian missile strike hit a crowded shopping mall in the center of the country Monday.

More than 1,000 people were inside at the time of the rocket attack, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

“The number of victims is impossible to imagine,” he added in a post on the Telegram messaging app, sharing video that showed plumes of gray smoke rising above a building that was consumed in flames as people and first responders ran in front of it.

The apparent attack hit a shopping center in Kremenchuk, a city in the Poltava region on the banks of Ukraine’s Dnieper River. Dmytro Lunin, head of the Poltava region, said at least 10 people were killed and more than 40 others were injured.

The Ukrainian Air Force Command reported that the missiles were fired from long-range bombers that took off from a Russian air base north of Ukraine.

NBC News has not verified that claim or the number of any deaths. The Russian Embassy in the United States did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Ukrainian claims.

Zelenskyy said the site did not present any danger or strategic value for the Kremlin.

“Russia continues to take out its powerlessness on ordinary citizens. It is useless to hope for adequacy and humanity on its part,” he added.

The Ukrainian president addressed leaders at the Group of Seven summit Monday, pleading for more military support such as “additional air defense capabilities that could shoot down missiles out of the sky,” according to national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

The U.S. is preparing to send a medium- to long-range surface-to-air missile system, Sullivan said in a briefing with reporters.

As details filtered through from Kremenchuk, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that the response from the world should be “more heavy arms for Ukraine, more sanctions on Russia and more businesses leaving Russia.”

The strike took place just before 4 p.m. local time (9 a.m. ET), according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service, which said that recovery efforts were ongoing with the help of 115 rescuers and 20 pieces of equipment. Efforts also continued to extinguish the flames, which covered more than 110,000 square feet and had filled the one-story building that houses the shopping center.

Mayor Vitalii Maletskyi said the city had turned a local hotel into a contact point for those who had not heard from friends and relatives. A hotline number was created, as well.

National police chief Igor Klimenko said that he had deployed police forensic experts along with war crimes investigators to begin collecting evidence.

Though Monday’s toll remains unclear, the incident carried echoes of some of the worst alleged atrocities of the war.

In April, a missile attack on the Kramatorsk train station in Ukraine’s east left 50 civilians dead, including five children, as many sought to flee the conflict. A month earlier, a Russian strike on a theater in Mariupol where civilians had been sheltering is estimated to have killed hundreds.

The Kremlin has consistently denied targeting civilians.

Russian forces also appear to have shelled the northeastern region of Kharkiv on Monday, according to local Ukrainian officials, who reported that three people were killed and 15 people, including children. were injured. That number, authorities said, is also expected to rise.

The strikes come just a day after Ukrainian officials blamed Russia for hitting two residential buildings in the capital, Kyiv, killing two people and signaling that Moscow was not limiting its assault to the eastern Donbas region where the fighting has been focused in recent months.