At least 8 killed as shells hit mall; city under new curfew

KYIV • Shells hit a Kyiv shopping centre late on Sunday, killing at least eight people, wrecking buildings and leaving smoking piles of rubble and razed cars spread over hundreds of metres.

Firefighters were putting out small blazes and looking for possible survivors yesterday.

Ukraine's Prosecutor-General Iryna Venediktova said at least eight people died.

Kyiv's Mayor Vitali Klitschko announced a new curfew for the capital yesterday that was set to last until tomorrow morning.

Stores, pharmacies, petrol stations and other establishments will be shut and only vehicles with special permission will be able to move about the city, he said.

Russian forces have penetrated Kyiv's suburbs on several sides, but the city's defenders have so far managed to keep them at bay, preventing the capital from coming under the kind of full-scale assault that has devastated other cities across the country.

British military intelligence said yesterday that Russian forces advancing on Kyiv from the north-east have stalled, and the bulk of the troops remain more than 25km from the centre of the city.

"Heavy fighting continues north of Kyiv," Britain's Ministry of Defence said.

"Forces advancing from the direction of Hostomel to the north-west have been repulsed by fierce Ukrainian resistance."

The authorities in the southern port city of Odessa accused Russia of carrying out a strike on residential buildings in the outskirts of the city early yesterday.

The city council said there were no casualties although the strike caused a fire.

In the eastern city of Kharkiv, Mayor Igor Terekhov said hundreds of buildings, many of them residential, had been destroyed.

"It is impossible to say that the worst days are behind us, we are constantly being bombed," Mr Terekhov said.

Russia denies targeting civilians in what it calls a "special operation" to disarm Ukraine.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE