Eight killed as Russian shells destroy shopping centre and homes in Kyiv

At least eight people were killed when Russian bombs obliterated a shopping centre in Kyiv.

The Retroville mall in the Podilskyi district was targeted at 10.48pm on Sunday night.

A number of houses were also hit in a blast that was so powerful that it left a massive crater and shattered every window in a high-rise building next door.

This morning rescuers were attempting to locate victims trapped in the rubble of the shelled mall.

However, shots rang out as firefighters picked their way through the complex.

Video released by Ukraine’s emergency services captured the moment when the shopping centre was bombed.

Glass and other debris can be seen raining down from the sky in the clip.

Another video showed fire crews rescuing a man after spotting his hands reaching out from the rubble.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko, the former boxing champion, said it was one of several shells to hit the city overnight, with others flattening homes.

In the city of Sumy, a 50-tonne tank of ammonia was damaged when the Sumykhimprom chemical plant was hit by Russian shelling. A gas cloud affected an area of about 1.5 miles, the region’s governor Dmytro Zhyvytskyy said. A worker at the facility was injured.

Residents of the nearby city of Novoselytsya were advised to shelter because of the wind direction.

Ammonia is largely used to make fertiliser and is corrosive. It can cause burns to airways and injuries to eyes.

Kremlin troops are increasingly resorting to long-range rocket strikes as their advance stalls elsewhere in Ukraine.

The UK Ministry of Defence believes that capturing Kyiv, which had a population of nearly three million before the war, remains Russia’s “primary military objective”.

It said the bulk of Russian forces were more than 15 miles from the city centre and would prioritise attempts to encircle Kyiv over the coming weeks.

The United Nations has confirmed 902 civilian deaths in the war but concedes the actual toll is likely much higher. It says nearly 3.4 million people have fled Ukraine. Estimates of Russian deaths vary, but even conservative figures are in the low thousands.

The Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office says at least 115 children have been killed and 148 injured.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in