Russian missiles struck a Ukrainian shopping mall with more than 1,000 people inside, Zelenskyy says

• A pair of Russian missiles struck a Ukrainian shopping mall on Monday.

• The attack in broad daylight set the mall on fire, with as many as 1,000 civilians inside and trying to escape.

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the number of casualties is "unimaginable."

A Russian missile attack on a shopping mall in Kremenchuk, Ukraine, left more than a thousand civilians fleeing for safety from a massive fire, according eyewitness accounts and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

"The occupiers launched a missile strike at shopping center," Zelenskyy said, according to Nexta TV news. "There were more than a thousand civilians. The mall is on fire, rescuers are extinguishing fire, number of victims is unimaginable."

Fire crews raced to extinguish a blaze that appeared to consume much of the mall structure. Local authorities in Kremenchuk said at least 10 people have been killed and 40 people were injured, although those numbers are likely to grow.

Video from the scene showed shoppers trying to escape the billowing smoke inside the mall as first responders arrived.

Kremenchuk is a city on the Dneiper river in central Ukraine, about five hours southeast of the capital of Kiev, and removed from the frontlines of combat in Ukraine's south and east.

Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, called Russia a "disgrace to humanity" and said they "must face consequences.

"The response should be more heavy arms for Ukraine, more sanctions on Russia, and more businesses leaving Russia," Kuleba said on Twitter. 

Zelenskyy addressed this week's G7 summit remotely, urging the countries' leaders to send more air defense systems and push to end the war this year.

The attack comes amid a bevy of recent Russian cruise missile strikes on areas far from the battlefield, which some analysts have assessed as targeting critical infrastructure.

Russia carried out as many as 60 airstrikes over the weekend in Ukraine, a senior US defense official told Reuters. The official said it was unclear whether the large number of strikes was intented to respond to the G7 meeting or the arrival of the first US-built HIMARS rocket launchers in Ukraine.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the attact on the shopping mall was "the lastest in a string of atrocities" and vowed that the US would continue to support Ukraine and hold Russia accountable for its actions.

During the 4-month war, Russian missiles have hit health care centers, residential buildings and even a theater in Mariupol, where an 600 people taking shelter are estimated to have died.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

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