LONDON: Russia's defence ministry on Tuesday said it fired missiles against a weapons depot in the Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk, with the subsequent explosion of ammunition triggering a fire in a nearby shopping mall.
At least 16 people were killed on Monday in what Kyiv said was a Russian missile strike against a busy shopping centre in Kremenchuk and the G7 called a Russian war crime.
"In Kremenchuk, Russian forces struck a weapons depot storing arms received from the United States and Europe with high-precision air-based weapons. As a result of the precision strike, Western-made weapons and ammunition concentrated in the warehouse ... were hit," Moscow's defence ministry said in a statement posted on its Telegram channel.
"The detonation of stored ammunition for Western weapons caused a fire in a non-functioning shopping centre located next to the depot," it added."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the shopping centre was hit directly by Russian missiles and around 1,000 people were inside at the time of the strike.
Rescue efforts continued on Tuesday to recover survivors and bodies, with dozens reported injured and hospitalised.
Russia has repeatedly denied targeting civilian areas during its four-month offensive against Ukraine. The UN says at least 4,700 civilians have been killed since Russia invaded on Feb 24..
