[imagesource: Twitter / @EmmanuelMacron]

While the world’s attention may have largely moved on, the war in Ukraine continues to rage.

Every day, new details of atrocities committed against the people of Ukraine emerge. It’s the civilians who suffer that really drives home the cruelty of war, embodied by a missile strike on a mall on Monday.

CCTV footage shared by The Guardian shows residents of Kremenchuk enjoying a day at a park when they’re suddenly forced to flee for their lives.

The attack on the nearby mall claimed at least 18 lives with rescuers still searching through the debris for bodies:

In one shot of the video… the camera shakes from the impact of the explosion. An ominous dark shadow is then seen to grow across the park’s lawn and pond as, off-camera, smoke rises above the building. Debris is flung into shot by the force of the blast, with some parts splashing into the water of the pond…

In another view, birds sitting on a pagoda in the middle of the pond suddenly scatter as the explosion hits, as people run for safety across a bridge.

There really is no respite:

In response to the bombing and criticism of targeting civilians, the Russian Ministry of Defence issued a statement bereft of any fact claiming that the shopping centre was “non-functional” and that the ensuing fire was caused by the “detonation of stored ammunition for western weapons”.

That is not the case and world leaders (other than, I’m guessing, allies like our own ANC) haven’t been fooled.

Russia’s bombing of a shopping centre in Kremenchuk is an abomination. We share the pain of the victims’ families, and the anger in the face of such an atrocity. The Russian people have to see the truth:pic.twitter.com/7drortbGSE

— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) June 27, 2022

Firefighters continue to search through the rubble and authorities say at least 36 people are still missing.

More from Reuters:

Relatives of the missing were lined up at a hotel across the street from the wreckage of the shopping centre, where rescue workers had set up a base. Adults and children, some in tears, lit candles and laid flowers in a tribute to the dead.

Image: Reuters / Anna Voitenko

 …Ludmyla Mykhailets, 43, had been shopping there with her husband when the blast threw her into the air.

“I flew head first and splinters hit my body. The whole place was collapsing,” she said at a hospital where she was being treated

Let’s see fewer wisecracks and greater meaningful assistance given to Ukraine from world powers, please.

[sources:guardian&reuters]