Kremenchuk mourns victims of deadly mall strike

STORY: Tearful residents in the Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk mourned the victims of a Russian missile strike on Tuesday (June 28), lighting candles and laying flowers.

The attack on the shopping mall killed at least 18 people, according to authorities, with many more injured.

“I thought that my children would be safe here but I was wrong. What happened yesterday showed us that there is nowhere safe in Ukraine.”

The strike, in the central city of Kremenchuk far from any frontline, has drawn a wave of global condemnation.

Including from French President Emmanuel Macron, who has called it a “war crime.”

"Russia cannot and should not win. And so our support for Ukraine and our sanctions against Russia will remain in place as long as necessary and with the required intensity in the coming weeks and months."

Speaking at the end of a summit of the world’s Group of Seven countries, Macron said it was clear that Moscow now had the sole objective of trying to force Ukraine to surrender.

He added that such acts showed that further sanctions were needed against Russia.

As leaders announced plans for a price cap on Russian oil - a new strategy designed to starve Russia of the resources for war, without worsening a global economic crisis.

Russia's defense ministry said its missiles had struck an arms depot storing Western weapons, which exploded, causing the blaze that spread to the nearby mall.

Kyiv said there was no military target in the area, including at a nearby factory that was also hit.

Russia described the shopping center as disused and empty. But that was contradicted by the relatives of the dead and missing.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy accused Russia of deliberately targeting civilians in "one of the most defiant terrorist attacks in European history."