Russian shelling of a packed market in the Ukrainian town of Kostiantynivka this afternoon has killed at least 16 people, including one child, and wounded more at least 28, according to Ukrainian officials.
The attack, which targeted the ‘Mercury’ shopping centre in the town in Donetsk, whipped up an inferno which tore through market stalls and destroyed several cars.
Shocking footage of the incident shared by locals on Telegram showed terrified residents sprinting from the scene as orange flames raged in the background, trailing thick black smoke.
Internal Minister Ihor Klymenko said emergency service workers have now extinguished the fire, but not before it damaged more than 30 pavilions at the market.
Twenty shops, power lines, an administrative building and the floor of an apartment building were damaged, according to the prosecutor general’s office, as rescue workers continue to pick through the rubble in a search for more survivors.
In a short statement, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said: ‘At this moment, the artillery of Russian terrorists has killed 16 people in the city of Kostyantynivka, Donetsk region. A regular market. Shops. A pharmacy. People who did nothing wrong. Many wounded.
‘This Russian evil must be defeated as soon as possible,’ Zelensky added.
Konstianynivka is located a mere six miles from the city of Bakhmut, which has long been the epicentre of some of the war’s bloodiest and most hard fought battles.
Flames rise and people run during an attack on the city of Kostiantynivka in eastern Ukraine, September 6, 2023
A burning market after a Russian shelling attack in the city centre of Kostiantynivka, Ukraine, Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023. More than a dozen people were killed and dozens more were wounded Wednesday when Russian shelling struck a market in a city in eastern Ukraine, officials said
View of a vehicle on fire following an attack on the city of Kostiantynivka in eastern Ukraine, September 6, 2023
Police officers and rescuers carry a bodybag out of a market following a Russian military strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kostiantynivka, Donetsk region, Ukraine September 6, 2023
The aftermath of the attack on the market in Konstiantynivka
Emergency services work following an attack on the city of Kostiantynivka in eastern Ukraine, September 6, 2023
The attack came as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visited Ukraine, with Washington set to unveil more than $1 billion in fresh aid to battle Russia.
During a meeting with Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Blinken reiterated Washington’s support for Kyiv in its fight to liberate territory in the south and east.
‘We want to make sure that Ukraine has what it needs, not only to succeed in the counteroffensive, but has what it needs for the long term, to make sure that it has a strong deterrent,’ he told Kuleba.
Blinken is expected to announce ‘more than a billion dollars in new US funding for Ukraine,’ according to a senior State Department official.
The Kremlin dismissed Blinken’s Kyiv visit, arguing US aid would not ‘influence the course of the special military operation’ – Moscow’s term for its offensive.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused Washington of wanting to ‘keep Ukraine in a state of war, to wage this war till the last Ukrainian’.
Kyiv’s army has said it is pressing on with ‘offensive operations’ towards eastern Ukraine’s war-battered town of Bakhmut – which fell to Russian forces in May – and the southern Moscow-occupied city of Melitopol.
It said troops had been ‘successful’ near the southern villages of Robotyne and Novoprokopivka.
The US has supplied key weaponry to Ukraine that allowed it to go on the advance this summer.
But Ukraine has in recent weeks become increasingly frustrated with criticism that the counter-offensive has been too slow.
Burned cars are seen at the site of a Russian military strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kostiantynivka, Donetsk region, Ukraine September 6, 2023
Firefighters work at the site of a Russian military strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, flanked by US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink, speaks to staff and families at the US Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine on September 6, 2023
Rustem Umerov, the newly appointed Minister of Defence of Ukraine, addresses the Ukrainian Parliament following his appointment voting session in Kyiv, Ukraine, 06 September 2023
Russia said Wednesday it had ‘improved its tactical position’ near the north-western city of Kupiansk, where it has led a local offensive for weeks.
It also hit Ukraine’s south-western Odesa region, near the border with Romania, with drone attacks overnight, killing one person.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian lawmakers approved the nomination of Crimean Tatar Rustem Umerov as Kyiv’s new wartime defence minister Wednesday in what was hailed as a historic move.
Crimean Tatars are an ethnic minority hailing from the Black Sea peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.
‘I will do everything possible and impossible for the victory of Ukraine – when we liberate every centimetre of our country and every one of our people,’ he said in a post on social media.
The 41-year-old businessman has been involved in prisoner exchange negotiations involving Saudi Arabia and grain export talks with Turkey and the United Nations.
‘We will definitely return everyone who, unfortunately, are temporarily in captivity,’ he said as he took up his post.
‘Children, prisoners of war, political prisoners, civlians… are waiting for us.’
Zelensky had nominated Umerov as new defence minister after the resignation of Oleksiy Reznikov, calling for ‘new approaches’ and in the wake of several corruption scandals in the ministry.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk