Ritain said Tuesday that a horrific attack on a crowded supermarket in Ukraine was an “act of terrorism” by Vladimir Putin’s forces.
The government strongly condemned the missile attack on the store in Kremenchuk, in central Ukraine, where at least 18 people were killed and dozens more were injured.
Chris Philp, Minister for Technology and the Digital Economy, told Sky News: “The attacks that Russia is carrying out against civilian targets, clearly deliberately, are disgusting and appalling.
“Yesterday we saw the attack on a shopping center.
“But it is not unique.
“We have seen them in the last three months attacking children’s hospitals, maternity wards, bombing floors.
“Apparently, the barbarism of the frankly criminal Putin regime has no end.”
Pressed on whether it was an act of terrorism, he added: “Yes, I would go so far and say it’s because it intentionally targets civilians.”
President Volodymyr Zelensky said there were 1,000 civilians in the building at the time of the attack.
“The shopping center is on fire, firefighters are trying to extinguish the fire, the number of victims is impossible to imagine,” the country’s leader said on Telegram.
The mall posed “no danger to the Russian military” and “no strategic value” to the Russians, Zelensky added.
He said: “People just wanted to live a normal life, which is what makes the squatters so angry.
“Out of helplessness, Russia continues to hit ordinary people. It is vain to expect it to be reasonable or humane.”
On Monday, in a joint statement, the G7 leaders who are currently at a summit in Germany said they “solemnly condemn the heinous attack.”
“We are united with Ukraine in mourning the innocent victims of this brutal attack.
“Indiscriminate attacks against innocent civilians constitute a war crime. Russian President Putin and those responsible will be held accountable.
“Today we underline our unwavering support for Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression, a war of unwarranted choice that has been raging for 124 days.”
They said they would “continue to provide financial, humanitarian and military support to Ukraine, for as long as necessary.”
“We will not rest until Russia ends its cruel and senseless war against Ukraine.”
Ukraine’s air force command said the mall was hit by two long-range X-22 missiles fired from Tu-22M3 bombers flying from Shaykovka airfield in Russia’s Kaluga region.
Russia’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Dmitry Polyanskiy, wrote on Twitter, citing no evidence, that the attack was a “Ukrainian provocation.”
Rescuers at the site of a hit in a shopping center
/ Via REUTERS“Exactly what the kyiv regime needs to keep the spotlight on Ukraine ahead of (the) NATO Summit,” he said, referring to the alliance’s Madrid meeting due to start on Tuesday.
Kremenchuk, an industrial city of 217,000 people before the Russian invasion, is the site of Ukraine’s largest oil refinery.
Boris Johnson condemned the “cruelty and barbarism” of Vladimir Putin after the attack.
“This appalling attack has once again demonstrated the depths of cruelty and barbarism to which the Russian leader will sink,” he said.
“Once again, our thoughts are with the families of innocent victims in Ukraine. Putin must realize that his behavior will only strengthen the resolve of Ukraine and all other G7 countries to support Ukraine for as long as it takes.”
It came the day after Russia attacked the Ukrainian capital Kyiv for the first time in weeks, with missiles hitting at least two residential buildings.
Zelensky’s office said at least six civilians were killed and 31 wounded as part of heavy Russian shelling of several Ukrainian cities in the past 24 hours, including Kyiv and major cities in the south and east of the country.
He said Russian forces fired rockets that killed two people and wounded five overnight in and near Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, and continued to target the key southern port of Odessa.
Reference-www.standard.co.uk