G7 Says Russian Attack on Mall Was a War Crime

A Russian missile attack on a mall in Kremenchuk, Ukraine, on Monday killed at least 13 people and wounded 40 others—but with rescuers still searching the wreckage, the death toll could rise significantly. The United Nations described the attack on a civilian target in central Ukraine, far from the fighting, as "deplorable," and G7 leaders, who are at a summit in Germany, called it a war crime, the BBC reports. "Indiscriminate attacks on innocent civilians constitute a war crime," the G7 leaders said. "Russian President Putin and those responsible will be held to account.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said more than 1,000 civilians were inside the mall when Russia carried out "one of the most daring terrorist attacks in European history," the AP reports. Ukrainian authorities say the missile was fired from Russian Tu-22M3 long-range bomber. "Only totally insane terrorists, who should have no place on Earth, can strike missiles at such an object," Zelensky said, per CNN. "And this is not an off-target missile strike, this is a calculated Russian strike—exactly at this shopping mall."

The United Nations Security Council, at Ukraine's request, has scheduled an emergency meeting for Tuesday. "Although Russia hasn't commented on the strike yet, it is already being suggested that this was another attempt by Moscow to send a message, just as the G7 group of wealthy nations was discussing new aid for Ukraine, says Joe Inwood at the BBC. "If this was Russian diplomacy, it was a negotiating tactic of the most brutal kind," he said. (More Russia-Ukraine war stories.)