Ukrainian officials said Monday that 13 civilians were confirmed dead and scores more were missing following a Russian missile attack on a crowded shopping center in the Poltava Oblast that was filled with some 1,000 people.

Footage shared by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky from the scene in the city of Kremenchuk showed orange flames and clouds of thick black smoke pouring out of the strip mall, with onlookers and firefighters standing outside.

“The invaders hit the mall where there were more than 1,000 civilians … the number of victims cannot even be imagined,” Ukraine’s leader wrote on social media. “(It) posed no danger to the Russian army, not a single strategic value.”

Zelensky added: “Russia continues to take out its impotence on ordinary citizens. Hoping for common sense and humanity on Russia’s part is useless.”

Regional governor Dmytro Lunin said Monday that, in addition to the 13 known dead, more than 50 others were found wounded as rescue crews continued to crawl through the rubble.

The Ukrainian military said the mall was struck by a missile attack launched from Russian long-range bombers, and that the planes were likely in Russian airspace above the Kursk region when the missiles were fired.

Oleksiy Danilov, the Ukrainian defense secretary, said a missile struck the mall and another hit a nearby sports arena.

The State Emergency Service of Ukraine said 115 firefighters from 20 units were looking for survivors and working to extinguish the huge blaze sparked by the missile blast.

Kremenchuk, an industrial city of 217,000 before Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, lies on the Dnipro river in the region of Poltava and is the site of Ukraine’s biggest oil refinery.

There was no immediate comment from Russia, which has consistently denied deliberately targeting civilian targets as part of what it calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine.

The attack came as Russia was mounting an all-out assault on the last Ukrainian stronghold in the eastern Luhansk region, “pouring fire” on the city of Lysychansk from the ground and air, according to the local governor.

The mayor of Slovyansk in Donetsk, some 50 miles to the east of Lysychansk, said Monday that Russian forces had begun to use cluster munitions against the city, killing at least one civilian — and sparking fears that Slovyansk might be the Kremlin’s next goal.

Overall, Russian forces stepped up the shelling of Ukrainian cities on Monday, with Zelensky’s office reporting at least six civilians were killed and 31 others injured as part of intense Russian shelling against other Ukrainian cities over the past 24 hours, including Kyiv and major cities in the country’s south and east.

He said that Russia was attacking “people’s attempts to live a normal life, which make the occupiers so angry.” 

During a G7 meeting in Germany earlier in the day Monday, world leaders pledged to continue supporting Ukraine “for as long as it takes.”

Addressing the summit via video link, Zelensky urged Western powers to send more air defense systems to Ukraine to protect the nation from Russian long-range missiles.

The US appeared set to announce the purchase of an advanced surface-to-air missile system for Ukraine.

With Post wires