SCORES of civilians are feared dead or injured after a Russian rocket strike hit a crowded shopping centre in the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk, officials said.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a Telegram post that the number of victims was “unimaginable”, citing reports that more than 1000 civilians were inside at the time of the attack.

Zelenskyy said the target presented “no threat to the Russian army” and had “no strategic value”.

He accused Russia of sabotaging “people’s attempts to live a normal life, which make the occupiers so angry”.

The strike came the day after Russia attacked the Ukrainian capital Kyiv for the first time in weeks, with missiles striking at least two residential buildings.

Boris Johnson condemned Vladimir Putin’s “cruelty and barbarism” following the attack.

“This appalling attack has shown once again the depths of cruelty and barbarism to which the Russian leader will sink,” he said.

“Once again our thoughts are with the families of innocent victims in Ukraine. Putin must realise that his behaviour will do nothing but strengthen the resolve of the Ukraine and every other G7 country to stand by the Ukraine for as long as it takes.”

Meanwhile, Russian forces are currently 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, SerhiyHaidai, governor of Luhansk, has said.

Haidai said that Russia was attacking Lysychansk after capturing the neighbouring city of Sievierodonetsk in recent days.

It is part of a stepped-up Russian offensive to wrest the broader Donbas region from Ukrainian government control in what western experts say has become the new main goal of President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, now in its fifth month.

Analysts say Lysychansk’s location high on the banks of the Siverskyi Donets river – as well as its large area dotted with hills – give a major advantage to the city’s Ukrainian defenders.