Russ strike kills at least 11

Ukrainian officials said Monday that 11 civilians were confirmed dead and scores more were missing after a Russian missile attack on a crowded shopping center in the Poltava Oblast that was filled with some 1,000 people.

Footage shared by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky from the scene in the city of Kremenchuk showed orange flames and clouds of thick black smoke pouring out of the strip mall, with onlookers and firefighters standing outside.

‘No danger to Russians’

“The invaders hit the mall where there were more than 1,000 civilians . . . the number of victims cannot even be imagined,” Ukraine’s leader wrote on social media. “[It] posed no danger to the Russian army, not a single strategic value.”

Zelensky added: “Russia continues to take out its impotence on ordinary citizens. Hoping for common sense and humanity on Russia’s part is useless.”

Regional governor Dmytro Lunin said Monday that, in addition to the 11 known dead, at more than 40 others were found wounded as rescue crews continued to crawl through the rubble.

A rescue operation was underway and nine of the wounded were in serious condition, said Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the presidential office.

The State Emergency Service of Ukraine said 115 firefighters from 20 units were looking for survivors and working to extinguish the huge blaze sparked by the missile blast.

Kremenchuk, an industrial city of 217,000 before Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, lies on the Dnipro River in the region of Poltava and is the site of Ukraine’s biggest oil refinery.

There was no comment from Russia, which has consistently denied

deliberately targeting civilians as part of what it calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine.

Zelensky’s office said at least six civilians were killed and 31 others injured as part of intense Russian shelling against other Ukrainian cities over the past 24 hours — including Kyiv.