Zelenskyy says Russia bombed a shopping mall because seeing Ukrainians try to live a normal life made it ‘angry’

• Russia bombed a Ukrainian mall as it was "angry" at people trying to live a normal life, Zelenskyy said.
• More than 1,000 people were inside during the strike, and at least 18 people are dead, officials said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia fatally a shopping center because it was "angry" that Ukrainians were trying to live a normal life.

Russian missiles hit a shopping mall in Kremenchuk on Monday that had more than 1,000 shoppers inside.

Dmytro Lunin, the region's governor, said on Telegram on Tuesday morning at least 18 people were killed.

Zelenskyy said in a Tuesday Telegram post that Russia was sabotaging "people's attempts to live a normal life, which make the occupiers so angry."

He said the mall had been "no threat to the Russian army" and had "no strategic value."

He also called the missile strikes "one of the most daring terrorist attacks in European history."

Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova said Russia's military has been "systematically shelling civilian infrastructure with the aim to scare people, to kill people, to bring terror to our cities and villages," the Associated Press reported.

She said the attack proved that Ukrainians should expect an attack from Russia "every minute."

Meanwhile, Russia's deputy representative to the UN, Dmitry Polyansky, baselessly claimed there were "many inconsistencies" in reports about Kremenchuk and suggested it was a Ukrainian hoax, as it did with the Bucha atrocities, the Economist correspondent Oliver Carroll reported.

Russia's ministry of defense said on Telegram on Tuesday that it was targeting military facilities, while Ukraine said there are no military facilities nearby.

Russia has repeatedly denied targeting civilian infrastructure, despite evidence showing multiple Ukrainian schools, hospitals, kindergartens, and other civilian buildings being repeatedly hit by Russia.