Russia called a ‘terrorist state’, dozens still missing after Ukraine shopping centre attack
- Ukraine’s president accused Russia of deliberately targeting a shopping centre, killing at least 18 on Monday
- Russia claimed that it struck a nearby arms depot, which exploded and caused a blaze that spread to the mall
Russian forces struck at targets in the Mykolaiv area of southern Ukraine on Wednesday and intensified attacks on fronts across the country as Nato members met in Madrid to plan a course of action against the challenge from Moscow.
The mayor of Mykolaiv city said a Russian missile strike killed at least three people in a residential building there, while Moscow said its forces had hit what it called a training base for foreign mercenaries in the region.
In the east, the governor of Luhansk province said there was “fighting everywhere” in the battle around the hilltop city of Lysychansk, which Russian troops were trying to encircle.
The governor of Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine said Russian shelling had increased there too in the past few days.
“Several villages have been wiped from the face of the earth,” Kryvyi Rih governor Oleksander Vilkul said.