“The despicable attack on the mall is a carefully planned terrorist act by the Ukrainian military and a gesture of despair of its Armed Forces in the face of the advance of Russian troops on the line of contact, the spokesperson posted Friday on Telegram.

The aggression’s target is to kill civilians and try to spread panic, Zakharova noted.

She considered as obvious that Kyiv has the approval of its Western handlers, so Ukrainian forces can commit as many atrocities as they want against civilians in order to undermine Russia’s stability.

“We strongly condemn yet another barbaric terrorist attack by the Kyiv Government,” Zakharova stressed.

Russian President Vladimir Putin promised “a dignified response” to the provocation by the Kyiv regime, which he accused of indiscriminate firing on civilian facilities, and reaffirmed that Russia will achieve all the targets of its special military operation in Ukraine.

Ied/omr/lam/gfa