“There are pieces of bodies”: the war enters kyiv with the savage Russian bombing of a shopping center

Almost nothing remains of the new “Retroville” shopping center located in the northwest of Kyiv and bombed by Russian forces on Sunday night, an attack that left at least eight dead, according to an interim official report.

Under an awning from which large billboards hang, six corpses lie on the ground with their bare feet protruding from the black plastic with which they have been covered.

SIGHT: War in Ukraine: Russian bombing of a shopping center in kyiv leaves at least 8 dead | VIDEO

The bodies are all of men in military gear, and two are half-naked, suggesting that soldiers were probably sleeping there when the shelling.

At 10:45 p.m. local time, a shelling shook this suburb of the Ukrainian capital, destroying both the building and its immediate surroundings.

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“I was quietly in my house, my apartment was shaken by the explosion, I thought the building was going to fall”recalls Vladimir, 76 years old.

A damaged building near the shopping center that was the target of a Russian attack in kyiv, Ukraine, on March 21, 2022. (EFE/EPA/SERGEY DOLZHENKO).

The Russians “probably targeted a thermal (electric) plant a few hundred meters away,” he said, pointing to a large white chimney on the horizon.

Swimming pool and cinemas

Opened at the beginning of 2020, a little before the covid-19 pandemic, “Retroville” was a temple of consumption, with its 250 stores, its Western brands, its cinemas and its 3,000 parking spaces.

The entire southern part of the huge shopping complex, which was the pride of the neighborhood’s inhabitants, was devastated.

In this suburb of VinogradarWhere vineyards and orchards once flourished, ultra-modern greyish towers have sprung up in recent years, some of which are not yet inhabited or even completed.

The bodies of Ukrainians covered with blankets and plastic bags outside the Retroville shopping center after a Russian missile attack in kyiv on March 21, 2022. (ARIS MESINIS / AFP)

Around the mall, hardly any windows were spared from the blast, and broken glass litters the forecourts of 20-story buildings.

The south parking lot of the “Retroville” now looks like a battlefield: pulverized vehicles, twisted junk and debris that make it difficult to pass.

From the sports clubsport life” and your pool is literally left with a pile of steel and puddles of dirty water, with melted bits of polyester insulation. The environment gives off a burning smell.

Among the rubble, a group of firefighters and military search for more victimsat the foot of a charred and still smoking ten-story building of which only the concrete structure remains.

“It’s the offices of the shopping center, fortunately, there was no one”, explains a neighbor.

Ukrainian rescuers work in the shopping center that was the target of the Russian attack in kyiv, Ukraine, on March 21, 2022. (EFE / EPA / ATEF SAFADI).

“King David”

According to the locals, Tonight’s shelling was the largest in kyiv since the start of the Russian offensive on February 24.

Dima Stepanienko, 30, recounts that he fell “at the foot of the bed” with the explosion. “I’m afraid so,” she says, lowering her eyes, when answering the question of whether the war has reached kyiv.

Inside the shopping center, an alarm continues to sound in a scenario of water leaks due to the rupture of the pipes and an almost completely collapsed roof.

A Ukrainian military man walks through the rubble of the Retroville shopping center in kyiv, destroyed by a Russian attack. (ARIS MESINIS / AFP).

Among the ruins, a khaki-clad Orthodox priest recites prayers, invokes “King David” and insults “Russian terrorists” along the way.

“There are pieces of bodies there”a soldier tells him discreetly, his face hidden by a black scarf.

I was there when he fell [el misil]”, says Constantin, 22. “He blew up everything, a missile or a huge rocket, we don’t know what he was, he just hit the gym,” he adds tiredly, refusing to give more details about the number or identity of the victims.

The remains of a huge engine block, embedded in the ground, and the characteristic green steel remains inevitably bring armored vehicles to mind.

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Source: Elcomercio