Drone photographs taken by Associated Press correspondent Efrem Lukatsky in Kremenchug (Poltava region of Ukraine) on June 28, 2022 clearly show the destroyed Amstor shopping and entertainment center and the territory of the road machinery plant adjacent to it (mailing address: Svobody Avenue, 4 ).
Judging by these pictures, the territory of the plant was not damaged by rocket fire, although the mall was completely destroyed.
This refutes the version that was presented on June 28 by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. Recall that it sounds like this: “The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue to strike at military facilities on the territory of Ukraine. near the Kremenchug plant of road vehicles. As a result of a precision strike, Western-made weapons and ammunition, concentrated in the warehouse area for further shipment to the Ukrainian group of troops in the Donbass, were hit. center”.
The Ukrainian side has previously stated the following: the missile attack was carried out precisely on the Amstor shopping and entertainment center by a Kh-22 cruise missile fired from a Tu-22M3 long-range bomber from the direction of the Russian city of Kursk. It was also reported that this bomber took off from the Shaikovka airfield. At the time of the missile hit, there were many people in the premises of the mall, although after the air raid alarm was triggered, evacuation was carried out. In this regard, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine is conducting an investigation.
It should be noted that some Russian propagandists, after reports of an explosion and fire in the mall in Kremenchug, hastened to announce that the Ukrainians blew themselves up to blame Russia. A version was also proposed, according to which the shopping and entertainment center has not been working for a long time (this is not so) and weapons were stored in it. But the propagandists of the Russian Defense Ministry preferred another, apparently in their opinion, more plausible version.
At present, the removal of debris in the Amstor shopping center in Kremenchug, which was destroyed on June 27 as a result of a Russian cruise missile hit, continues.
After noon on June 28, updated data on the victims were published. Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Kyrylo Tymoshenko said during a briefing: “More than 20 dead and 59 wounded are already known, of which 25 were hospitalized. In addition, there are more than 40 statements from relatives of missing persons who could have been in a shopping center during the shelling “. He added that hundreds of rescuers, patrolmen, National Guardsmen and civilians continue to pull people out from under the rubble.
Earlier it was reported that more than ten victims were in serious condition. There are children among the wounded.
The number of victims is being specified.
Earlier, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on his Telegram channel that more than a thousand people were in the mall in Kremenchug at the time the rocket hit. Zelensky posted a video from the scene of the fire, writing: “The mall is on fire, rescuers are extinguishing the fire, the number of victims is unimaginable.” “He did not pose any danger to the Russian military. No strategic value. But people’s attempt to live a normal life angers the occupiers,” he added.
Zelensky later clarified that more than a thousand people were in the premises of the mall before the air raid was announced, many were evacuated before the rocket fell. He called this shelling “the most audacious act of terrorism in the history of Europe.”
The Security Service of Ukraine launched an investigation under Part 2 of Art. 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (violation of the laws and customs of war).
There are no military facilities near the Amstor shopping center, except for the road machinery plant and the railway station. In addition, nearby are the bus station, the shopping and entertainment complex “Galaktika”, the perinatal center, the stadium, the central market.
Data about Amstor mall in Kremenchug
This shopping and entertainment center is located in the center of Kremenchuk, near the railway station, bus station and central square. Before the war, about 36 thousand people lived within a radius of 2 km from the Amstor shopping center.
The owner of the Amstor shopping center is Smart Urban Solutions, which represents the development business of Smart-Holding. The beneficiary of this company is People’s Deputy Vadim Novinsky, Rinat Akhmetov’s business partner. The Vadim Novinsky Foundation purchases ambulances donated to hospitals in Nikolaev, Krivoy Rog and Zaporozhye.
Since the beginning of the war (February 24, 2022), Smart Urban Solutions has lost control over the shopping centers that ended up in the occupied territories and in the war zone – in Melitopol and Berdyansk, and the company’s shopping centers in Mariupol and Severodonetsk were almost completely destroyed. The work of the shopping center “Amstor” in Kramatorsk was stopped. Only Amstors in Kremenchug and Zaporozhye continued to operate, writes novyny.live.
Roman Yemets, director of Smart Urban Solutions, told the Interfax-Ukraine news agency after the rocket attack: “Yes, this is our mall. The most crowded time of the day for visitors. It was completely burned down, all emergency services are in place.”
The Smart-Holding company gave an official comment: “None of the shopping centers contains military equipment and is not a military facility. We are convinced that tragedies like the one that took place in Kremenchug cannot be justified and forgiven.”