Russian President Vladimir Putin commented for the first time on the strike on a shopping center in Kremenchug. He stated following his visit to Ashgabat that there had been no terrorist attack in Kremenchug. He is quoted by TASS.
“Yes, there was no terrorist attack, no explosion. I was here, I don't know [details]. I know, and we have shown this many times from drones when they place weapons, strike systems, artillery, heavy equipment in residential areas, and elsewhere.”
Putin also added that "just like that, no one shoots or hits our fields, as a rule, this is done at reconnoitered targets."
“I'm sure it was the same in this case. They hide equipment, especially that which is delivered from the West, in all sorts of hangars, factories, workshops, where equipment is repaired or put in order after a long period of distillation from abroad … The Russian army does not strike at any civilian targets. There is no need, we have every opportunity to determine what is where, and with modern long-range precision weapons, we achieve these goals. But I will find out in detail when I return to Moscow.”
Earlier, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russian missiles hit a shopping center in Kremenchuk, there were more than a thousand people in the building. As the correspondent of The Insider specified, the shopping center is located across the street from the Kredmash plant, which produces equipment for the production of asphalt concrete and asphalt. In total, Russia fired three missiles, two of them hit the shopping center, the third hit the factory. According to the head of the Poltava OVA Dmitry Lunin, by the morning of June 28, it was known about the death of 18 civilians who were in the shopping center at the time of the explosion.
At the same time, Russia, represented by the official representative of the country's Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova , continues to deny its involvement in the deaths, calling Kiev's accusations "fake". The Ministry of Defense confirmed the strike on Kremenchuk, but the department claimed that Russia fired at the ammunition depot, the shopping center “did not function,” and the fire started due to “the detonation of ammunition stored nearby at the plant.” The blow, according to the Ministry of Defense, was inflicted on "hangars with weapons and ammunition received from the United States and European countries, in the area of the Kremenchug plant of road vehicles."