A shopping mall in the city of Kremenchug, where 18 were reported killed on Monday, did not shut down after a warning was issued by the city of Kremenchug.
A Ukrainian shopping mall where 18 people were reported dead on Monday after a Russian air strike, ignored a warning of an imminent air attack, the mayor of Kremenchug reported on Tuesday.
The tragedy in Amstor showed that the Ukraine is at war, so ignoring an air raid alert is a crime, as Vitaly Maletsky wrote on social media. He threatened public venues with criminal prosecution if they fail to evacuate patrons and employees when a warning is given by the authorities.
The mayor posted a screenshot of what he claimed was the official social media account of the outlet, which informed that it would remain open during alert periods. The policy change took effect last Thursday, according to the timestamp.
Ukraine claimed that a Russian airstrike killed and injured scores of civilians at a mall in Kremenchug. President Volodymyr Zelensky called it one of the most brazen terrorist attacks in European history. Moscow confirmed on Tuesday that it was attacking the city, but denied targeting the shopping mall. The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that the West-supplied munitions were stored at a nearby plant before being shipped to the frontline. The report claimed that the ammo's detonations caused damage to the shopping center. The mall was not operational at the time of the attack, according to the ministry.
The Russian military regularly launches missile attacks deep in Ukrainian territory, but it claims it only targets sites of military importance. During the four-month long conflict with Ukraine, it has hit a major oil refinery in Kremenchug, which presumably made fuel for Ukrainian forces.
Ukraine's air defense warns the residents of areas that the authorities believe may be hit by Russia, prompting them to seek shelter. The entire Poltava region in central Ukraine, where Kremenchug is located, had been considered under threat on Monday before the mall incident, according to local media.
Russia attacked the neighboring state in late February after Ukraine failed to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements, first signed in 2014, and Moscow s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. The German and French protocols were designed to give the breakaway regions special status within the Ukrainian state.
The Kremlin has since demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join the US-led NATO military bloc. Kiev insists that the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked and has denied that it was planning to take the two republics by force.