The Russian Defense Ministry has for the first time referred to its missile strike on the Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk.
The strike hit a shopping mall on Monday, killing at least 18 people and leaving dozens more still missing.
On its Telegram channel, the ministry said Russian "Aerospace Forces launched a strike with high-precision air-based weapons on hangars with weapons and ammunition received from the United States and European countries," hitting a plant of "road machines."
"As a result of a high-precision strike, Western-made weapons and ammunition, concentrated in the storage area for further shipment to the Ukrainian group of troops in Donbas, were hit."
The ministry blamed "the detonation of stored ammunition for Western weapons" for causing a fire in what it described as a "non-functioning" neighboring shopping mall.
Extensive video from Kremenchuk shows that a shopping mall in the heart of the city was obliterated by one of the two missiles that were fired. Despite an air raid siren, dozens of people were still inside the mall when the missile struck.
It's unclear what "road machine" plant the Russian Defense Ministry is referring to.