The 1,000 people shopping in the mall in KremenchukA large industrial centre on the River Dinipro. Before the war it had a population of around 200,000. thought they were safe. So far, the city in central Ukraine had escaped attack by the invaders. But just before 4pm on Monday, the mall was targeted by long-range bombers from an air base to the north of the country. Struck by two missiles, the building was instantly engulfed in flames.

Rescue workers found gaping holes in the roof and walls, shattered windows and twisted sheets of metal. By yesterday evening the death toll stood at 20, with a further 59 wounded.  

Condemnation of the attack came from far and wide. Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky called it "one of the most brazen terrorist acts in European history... A peaceful town, an ordinary shopping centre - women, children, ordinary civilians inside".

A statement by the G7A group made up of six of the world's major industrialised nations/advanced economies (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK) plus the EU. All of its current members are democracies. leaders promised that those responsible, including Vladimir Putin, would be held to account. "Indiscriminate attacks on innocent civilians constitute a war crime," it pointed out.

Yesterday, Russian authorities denied responsibility, claiming they had been targeting an arms dumpThe Russians claim that fire spread from the arms dump to the mall. Ukrainian officials deny that there is an arms dump there.. But few people outside Russia were convinced.

Civilians have already paid a horrific price for Putin's aggression. In March, an attack on a theatre in Mariupol where families were sheltering killed an estimated 600 people. In April, at least 59 were killed in a train station in eastern Kramatorsk.

The question is not only why Putin has invaded a peaceful country, but why he is waging war so viciously. One possible explanation is that he is gravely ill, and wants to be sure that he will be remembered after his death.

In the past, Putin was keen to project the image of an athletic macho man. He was photographed playing ice hockey, hunting and riding, often stripped to the waist. But recent pictures suggest a very different story.

One, taken two weeks before his invasion of Ukraine, showed him talking to President Macron from the far end of a very long table. He was assumed to be terrified of catching Covid-19 - possibly because he was already in poor health.  

Then, in April, he was filmed with his defence ministerSergey Shoigu has held the position since 2012. In August 2021 he said that "Russia does not consider Ukraine as threat".. Putin was slouching in his chair and clutching the table with his hand. Some people deduced that he was suffering from Parkinson's diseaseA condition which affects the part of the brain controlling movement.. Not long afterwards he seemed unsteady on his feet as he presented a prize to a Russian film-maker.

People have also noticed a puffiness in his face. In May, he sat through the annual Victory DayTaking place on 9 May each year, it commemorates the surrender of Nazi Germany in 1945. parade in Moscow looking like an invalid, with a blanket over his legs.

According to the head of Ukrainian intelligence, Major General Kyrylo Budanov, spies in the Kremlin have reported that Putin is in a "very bad psychological and physical condition". US intelligence experts believe that he has had treatment for advanced cancer.

But Russia's foreign minister, Sergei LavrovHe has been foreign minister since 2004., insists: "I don't think that a sane person can suspect any signs of an illness or ailment in this man."

Yes: Putin had no good reason for invading Ukraine, which did not present any threat to Russia, even if it joined Nato. An urgent, all-consuming need to ensure his legacy is the only possible explanation.

No: After failing to achieve a quick victory, Putin has simply put his faith in a strategy which has proved successful in the past - wreaking havoc and terrorising the enemy population.  

Or... Putin's illness has impaired his judgement and led him to embark on a war which is hugely damaging to Russia as well as Ukraine. He is furious with himself and is taking it out on innocent people.