A wild bear has been shot and killed after wandering through a shopping centre in Russia.

Video has been released showing the bear smashing a window and roaming around the mall in the city of Khabarovsk, close to the Chinese border.

After a while it managed to get out by pushing open the doors and made off down the street.

It then ran into a nearby playground before being shot.

No injuries were reported.

A worker said: "I was sitting at my cashier desk, my working place.

"And then I heard doors breaking, I looked there and thought maybe there was a scuffle or something, and then I saw the bear, galloping like this past me.

"I was scared, I flattened myself against the chair.

"He ran away and we escaped to the back office."

The footage, released by local television channel MestoproTV, showed camouflaged police officers follow the animal and shooting it dead in the playground.

Russia's main investigative agency, the Investigative Committee, is looking into the legitimacy of the police action.

The television report said the bear was between two and three years old, meaning it was a teenager in bear years.