Evidence contradicts Russian claims about Kremenchuk mall attack

Rescue workers comb through the site of the missile strike on a shopping mall in Kremenchuk. Photograph: Alessio Mamo/The Guardian

First-hand accounts from survivors and expert analysis have discredited Moscow’s account of the deadly missile strikes on a shopping mall in the Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk.

Igor Konashenkov, a spokesperson for Russia’s defence ministry, said its military fired a “high-precision air attack at hangars where armament and munitions were stored”, and the explosion of those weapon caches caused a fire in the nearby shopping centre, which he said was “non-functioning” at the time.