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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on the United States to recognize Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism following yesterday’s Russian attack on a shopping mall in Kremenchuk, which killed at least 16 people.
“This morning, I called on the United States to recognize Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism. The relevant resolution must be passed by the US Senate Committee and the legal decision can be taken by the State Department,” the Ukrainian leader explained in his latest message to the population.
“Such a decision is clearly necessary, and it should be supported by the whole democratic world. I said this to the participants of the G7 Summit, which took place in Germany,” Zelensky added.
In his opinion, the Russian attack “in a shopping mall in Kremenchuk is one of the most challenging terrorist attacks in European history. A peaceful city, an ordinary shopping mall with women, children, ordinary civilians inside.”
Before the aerial alarm, “there were about a thousand people. Fortunately, as far as we know at the moment, many people managed to get out in time. They were pulled out in time. But there were still people inside: staff, some visitors,” the president described.
“Only totally insane terrorists, who should have no place on earth, can launch missiles at such a target. And this is not a missile attack that went off target, this is a calculated Russian attack, exactly on this shopping mall,” he continued.
“It is not yet possible to establish the number of casualties. There was a fire in an area of more than 10 thousand square meters. The rescue operation is continuing, but we must be aware that the losses may be significant. So far, 12 dead and 24 injured are known. We are establishing the number of people under the rubble,” he explained.
Zelensky recalled that “Russia has used almost 2,800 different cruise missiles against Ukraine. The number of air bombs and multiple rocket launchers (MLRS) hitting our cities simply cannot be counted. There were hundreds of thousands of them in the four months of the war. This is nothing but terror.”
“The Russian state has become the largest terrorist organization in the world. And this is a fact. And this must be—he reiterated—a legal fact. And everyone in the world must know that buying or transporting Russian oil, maintaining contacts with Russian banks, paying taxes and customs duties to the Russian state means giving money to terrorists.”
