The missile that struck the Retroville shopping complex late Sunday night killed at least eight people, officials here said, the latest violent attack on the capital in the past week, leaving residents fearful of what may come next. Monday’s devastation at the mall was among the worst in Kyiv since the war began, and there are growing concerns that Russia’s frustration at a failure to seize key areas could prompt its forces to escalate its attacks.
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Civilians milled outside to survey the damage the next morning, knowing that the unpredictability of the attack meant those who died here just hours earlier might as well have been themselves.
“The whole city is dangerous,” said Vitaliya Dubovetska, who lives on the 16th floor of a nearby apartment building and saw the blast from her window. “Every place can be safe or unsafe. It’s like a lottery.” Photos on her phone showed an orange fireball erupting in the distance. She moved closer to the strike site on Monday to fix windows at a relative’s home across the street, then visited what was left of the mall.
Dubovetska and others said the attack happened around 11 p.m. Sunday and caused a huge boom that spread through the area. Due to a city-wide curfew from 8 p.m. every evening, journalists could only reach the crime scene in the morning. It was not immediately clear who was killed in the attack, which came at a time when most civilians were not allowed to leave their homes or shelters.
Right inside the damaged mall was a grocery store, which a former employee said is now used as a warehouse. Broken glass and a large puddle of water stood in the hallway. The ceiling was also damaged.
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Troops guarding the door first let a group of journalists in, but then forced the press corps out. Vladyslov Kosiak, 21, was standing across the street with two friends. They, too, had heard the strike the night before from a fourth-floor balcony nearby and then come to see the damage after the curfew was lifted Monday morning.
“There was a very loud bang and the building started to shake like an earthquake,” Kosiak said. The heavy banging of artillery could be heard all morning.
A Territorial Defense volunteer, who spoke on condition of anonymity to speak freely, said the attack was the result of a hypersonic missile – but provided no evidence. “Maybe it should show the Ukrainian military what it can do, that it can damage anything,” he said.
Booms echoed continuously through the area Monday morning. When asked if a loud blast was going in or out, the territory defender shrugged. “I don’t know, but it’s not here,” he said, laughing as he gestured to his immediate surroundings. “So it’s okay.”
Sunday’s attack came as Russia insisted Ukraine surrender the besieged city of Mariupol. Weeks of attacks on the port have resulted in a deadly humanitarian disaster. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy refused. Civilians in Kyiv said Monday his defiance made them proud despite their horror at events unfolding within their borders.
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Most communications to Mariupol have been cut since early March, but some civilians have been able to escape. They have brought back tales of hellish conditions, including mass graves and bodies left in the streets. Two Associated Press journalists stayed in town for weeks, documenting the horrors firsthand and helping the world understand the gravity of the Russian attack, which reportedly included strikes on a theater, an arts school and a maternity hospital.
“If he agreed to give them Mariupol, it would be Kharkiv tomorrow. It’s better not to bargain,” said Natalia, 44, who worked in the grocery store at the mall before the war began. She spoke on condition that only her first name be used for security reasons. She also visited the site on Monday to assess the damage.
“From the very beginning,” she said, “the Russian soldiers thought we in Kyiv would meet them with a flower in our hands. But if they come, we’ll give them two each,” a reference to the tradition of laying flowers at a grave.
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Her friend Oksana works in a grocery store next to the place where the strike took place. She said the attacks on civilian infrastructure had only strengthened civilians’ resolve to hold their ground. “We will never let the Russian army come to Kyiv,” she said. Out of patriotic duty she had decided to remain in the capital. “It’s better to die in an apartment here than try to live somewhere else.”
Still, residents fear the increasing attack could make life here unbearable. You are already anxious and anxious – but keep pushing in the hope that the situation will resolve.
“Every day I wake up to have breakfast and I don’t know if I’ll be alive for dinner,” Natalia said.
Jennifer Hassan in London and Jonathan Edwards in Washington contributed to this report.