One dead in Russian shelling on Kyiv mall

At least one person was killed when Russian forces shelled a shopping centre in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv late Sunday, the city's mayor said.

A huge blast shook the city at the time of the attack and fires could be seen blazing in the wreckage of the Retroville mall, a journalist said.

"One killed so far," Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram.

"Enemy shelling" caused a fire on several floors of the mall in the city's northwestern Podilsky district and set several cars ablaze, emergency services said on Facebook.

They released security camera footage showing a huge explosion and a mushroom cloud, followed by a series of smaller blasts.

Firefighters pulled at least one man covered in dust from the twisted debris, according to more video released by the emergency services. 

Soldiers cordoned off the site and told journalists to move back, warning of danger from unexploded munitions without elaborating further.

Neighbours in a housing block whose windows were shattered by the blast said that they had seen a mobile rocket launcher near the mall for several days previously.

Kyiv has been hit by a series of strikes over the past week, with one on an apartment block earlier Sunday wounding five people.

Russia's advance on Kyiv has however largely stalled. Moscow's forces engage in sporadic fighting to the northwest and east but have barely moved for two weeks.