1 confirmed killed in Russian shelling of Kyiv

At least one person is killed when Russian forces shell a shopping center in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, the city’s mayor says.

A huge blast shook the city at the time of the attack and fires could be seen blazing in the wreckage of the Retroville mall, AFP journalists say.

“One killed so far,” Mayor Vitali Klitschko says on Telegram.

“Enemy shelling” caused a fire on several floors of the mall in the city’s northwestern Podilsky district and set several cars ablaze, emergency services say on Facebook.

They release security camera footage showing a huge explosion and a mushroom cloud, followed by a series of smaller blasts.

Firefighters pulled at least one man covered in dust from the twisted debris, according to more video released by the emergency services.

Soldiers cordoned off the site and told journalists to move back, warning of danger from unexploded munitions without elaborating further.

Neighbors in a housing block whose windows were shattered by the blast say that they had seen a mobile rocket launcher near the mall for several days previously.

Kyiv has been hit by a series of strikes over the past week, with one on an apartment block earlier today wounding five people.

Russia’s advance on Kyiv has however largely stalled. Moscow’s forces engage in sporadic fighting to the northwest and east but have barely moved for two weeks.