Condemnation of Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilians grows

As civilian casualties continue to mount in Ukraine drawing global condemnation, Russia says it attacked a Kyiv shopping centre because Ukrainian forces were using it as a rocket store and reloading station.

A man walks in his apartment ruined after the Russian shelling in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, March 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) Source: AP

The Russian military says it hit the shopping mall on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv because it was a munitions store.   Britain's defence ministry says Ukrainian resistance has kept most Russian forces more than 25 kilometres from the centre of Kyiv, but the capital "remains Russia s primary military objective."  City authorities have turned the capital into a fortress, and imposed a 35 hour curfew.   Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Russia of shooting at protesters in Kherson, which is occupied by Russian forces.