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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Ryan Merrifield

Russian missile caught on CCTV as it strikes Ukrainian shopping mall killing 20

The moment a Russian missile struck a shopping centre in Ukraine was caught on CCTV.

The attack on Amstor mall in the city of Kremenchuk on Monday left at least 20 dead and dozens more injured and missing.

The unnerving footage shows the first of two rockets fired appear out of nowhere and leave the target a flaming ruin.

Fire chief Ivan Melekhovets said the intensity of the resultant inferno left people with "no chance of surviving".

Having been involved in the efforts to rescue those inside he described the devastation of seeing the corpses of children as the "hardest thing".

He added that up to 60 people remain missing.

The missile can be seen just before it strikes (via REUTERS)

An estimated 1,000 were inside during the shelling.

Previously released footage showed how the sunny sky turned dark with debris as a man dived into a lake for safety.

The video was caught on what appears to be CCTV stationed at a nearby park.

Panicked parents and their children were also seen watching on before abandoning their belongings to flee, with the camera itself trembling on impact.

A camera caught the moment the first missile struck Amstor mall in Kremenchuk (via REUTERS)

Another angle shows a mum grabbing her small child and taking cover by a tree just as a second missile hits.

And a third sees a jogger collapse as the missile hits the water before lying on the floor during the second blast.

More footage shows panicked children fleeing over a bridge crossing over the lake with their hands over their ears.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has said it was "impossible to imagine" how many victims there would be in the end.

The devastating attack left the mall in ruins and dozens either dead or injured (OTLANDO BARRIA/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

He added that the incident was "one of the most daring terrorist attacks in European history".

He claimed Russia purposefully attacked the shopping centre, also releasing some footage of the moment himself.

In his nightly address, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said: "Today, I want to end this address with one such piece of evidence - so that no one dares to deceive about the missile strike at the shopping mall in Kremenchuk.

"The Russian missile hit this very object, purposefully. Obviously, that was the order.

"It is obvious that Russian assassins received such coordinates for this missile.

"They wanted to kill as many people as possible in a peaceful city, in a regular shopping mall.

A man jumped into a lake during the attack (@TpyxaNews/Twitter)

"And for this act of state terrorism, as for all others, Russia will be responsible.

"On the battlefield in Ukraine, by the strengthening of sanctions and, of course, in the tribunal."

The Kremlin claims its forces had fired at a neighbouring US and European arms depot which inadvertently caused an explosion which ignited the mall.

Shrapnel can be seen raining down into the water (@TpyxaNews/Twitter)

Russia's defence ministry said in a daily statement: "In Kremenchuk, Russian forces struck a weapons depot storing arms received from the United States and Europe with high-precision air-based weapons.

"The detonation of stored ammunition for Western weapons caused a fire in a non-functioning shopping centre located next to the depot."

Electronics store worker Maksym Musienko said around 100 customers were in his shop when the attack started.

People watch on in horror following the incident (OLEG PETRASYUK/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

The 26-year-old, who is in hospital with shrapnel wounds and concussion, said: "We were working.

"There were a lot of people in the shop, but I don't remember anything after that.

"The shopping centre is not a place of danger for the Russians. We thought we were far away from the frontier."

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