Kyiv — A video has emerged which appears to disprove Russian propaganda that a missile attack on a Ukrainian shopping mall was never carried out. According to Ukrainian officials, at least 18 people were killed and around 60 others were injured in Monday’s strike. Russia, however, claims that it only struck a legitimate military target close by the mall.
Security cameras captured the moment that a Russian X-22 cruise ballistic missile struck the Kremenchuk shopping center. Just before the shockwave hits, people in the park can be seen fleeing to safety as they fall to the ground.
On Wednesday, emergency workers continued to search the rubble of the shopping mall for 20 missing people.
Zelenskyy also shared another video in which he claimed the X-22 missile — a long-range cruise ballistic missile developed in the Soviet Union to sink American aircraft carriers – flew at an angle into the mall and sent a fireball and debris flying all around. On Tuesday, the Ukrainian leader asked for the United Nations’ immediate action to hold Russia responsible for his terrorist attack.
@ZelenskyyUa declares “Absolute Terrorism” and posts a video showing a deliberate missile strike against the Kremenchuk shopping centre with people inside. Russian propaganda lies all the time: it is not a coincidence that this is a deliberate attack to intimidate the population, and cause mass casualties. pic.twitter.com/Gx1f90cMta
Zelenskyy shared the video and accused Russia of “purposefully” hitting the mall.
He said, “They wanted as many people killed as possible in peaceful cities in regular shopping malls.”
Security camera footage appears to refute the Russian propaganda that suggested the attack was faked. The Russian military apparently only attacked a military facility close to the shopping center. Multiple Russian accounts suggest that the target site was either a depot with Western-supplied weapons, or a base for Ukrainian military vehicle.
CBS News visited the asphalt factory located just north of the mall. Mykola Danyleiko was our chairman for the Kredmash Road Machinery Plant which mixes asphalt to pave roads.
He said that the Russian claims were fake. “They claimed that we send products by railroad from here. Is there a railroad?
On Monday, a missile also hit the cement plant, but there wasn’t a railway.
Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed that fire spread from the strike on the plant to mall, leading to the shopping center being destroyed. After walking the third mile between the two locations, our team did not see any burn paths.
Russian media claimed that the mall was “non operating” at the time the strike occurred, but recent videos on the internet suggest otherwise.
Fear is not to be faked. We began interviewing a woman in the area of the mall one day after the strike. A day later, an alert from the air raids started sounding on her phone and she fled.
She was clearly scared of another Russian missile attack — Moscow may again insist that it never happened.
Barny Smith, a CBS News producer, contributed to this report.
