Eight people died Sunday after a Russian shelling attack destroyed Kyiv’s Retroville shopping mall.
Shelling in the residential area of Kyiv left the shopping centre, which was home to many Western chains such as McDonalds and has been called a symbol of new Kyiv, completely hollow. Nearby schools and kindergartens are also said to have been damaged.
Before the Russian invasion, the 120 334 m³ mall was home to hundreds of shops, including large chains, such as H&M, as well as an events space. Now, the mall’s grand and modern interiors have been completely destroyed.
The shopping centre, which was set ablaze during the blast, was still smoking on Monday morning, with debris strewn around the surrounding area.
All of its south side had reportedly been destroyed, as well as a fitness centre in its car park.
The annex adjacent to the main building, which housed offices, was also badly damaged.
Before and after pictures show the devastating impact of the blast on the shopping centre.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko announced the attack on his Telegram channel, confirming the destruction of the mall.
“According to the information we have at the moment, several homes and one of the shopping centres [were hit],” he said.
In another post, he added: “Rescuers are extinguishing a large fire in one of the shopping centres in the Podolsk district of the capital. All services - rescue, medics, police - work on site. The information is being clarified.”
Firefighters descended onto the scene and were seen laying bodies on the pavement, while cars had been completely flattened in the attack.
Gintautas Pavalkis, a representative for BT Invest, which owns a company whose offices were destroyed in the blast, told Lithuania’s national media LRT that the shopping centre had resisted structural damage.
He said: “The blast damaged the shopping centre itself, but […] it is still standing and there is no structural damage.
“The office and the annex have been destroyed, but the shopping centre will be able to continue its work in the future.”
Following the airstrike, Mr Klitschko declared the start of another 35-hour curfew in the city.
