Russia says Kyiv shopping centre it hit was storing Ukrainian rockets

LONDON - Russia said on Monday it had used high-precision long-range rockets on a shopping centre which the Russian military said was being used as a weapons store by Ukrainian forces.

Shelling hit a Kyiv shopping centre late on Sunday, killing at least eight people, wrecking nearby buildings and leaving smoking piles of rubble and the twisted wreckage of burned-out cars spread over several hundred metres.

"The areas near the shopping centre were used as a large base for storing rocket munitions and for reloading multiple rocket launchers," Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told reporters.

"High-precision long-range weapons on the night of March 21 destroyed a battery of Ukrainian multiple rocket launchers and a store of ammunition in a non-functioning shopping center," he said.