At least 16 people killed and 20 wounded as Russia shells Ukrainian market

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  • Death toll is expected to increase as rescuers comb the rubble for survivors

Russian shelling of a packed market in the Ukrainian city of Kostiantynivka killed at least 17 people this afternoon, including one child, and wounded at least 32, according to Ukrainian officials.

The attack, which targeted the Mercury shopping centre in the town in Donetsk, whipped up an inferno that 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 had extinguished the fire, but not before it damaged more than 30 stalls. 

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.’ The death toll later increased to 17 killed with 32 injured. 

Konstianynivka is 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.  

Residents turn and run as a fireball engulfs a market in Kostiantynivka, eastern Ukraine, today

Residents turn and run as a fireball engulfs a market in Kostiantynivka, eastern Ukraine, today

Cars ablaze in a scene of devastation as the market burns following Russian shelling

Cars ablaze in a scene of devastation as the market burns following Russian shelling

Police and other rescuers carry a body bag out of the market following the attack

Police and other rescuers carry a body bag out of the market following the attack

Emergency workers pick through the aftermath of the attack on the market in Konstiantynivka

Emergency workers pick through the aftermath of the attack on the market in Konstiantynivka

The street is littered with burnt-out cars, and the windows are broken in neighbouring shops

The street is littered with burnt-out cars, and the windows are broken in neighbouring shops

The attack came as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Ukraine, with Washington set to announce more than $1billion in fresh aid to help the country defeat 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 counter-offensive, 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 US State Department official.

The Kremlin dismissed Blinken’s Kyiv visit, claiming US aid would not ‘influence the course of the special military operation’ – Moscow’s term for its invasion.

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.

Smoke hangs in the air and incinerated cars lie strewn in front of gutted businesses

Smoke hangs in the air and incinerated cars lie strewn in front of gutted businesses

Firefighters douse the flames at the scene of the Russian strike in the city of Konstiantynivka

Firefighters douse the flames at the scene of the Russian strike in the city of Konstiantynivka

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, flanked by the US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink, speaks to staff and families today at the US Embassy in Kyiv

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, flanked by the US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink, speaks to staff and families today at the US Embassy in Kyiv

Rustem Umerov, Ukraine's newly appointed defence minister, addresses the country's parliament today

Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s newly appointed defence minister, addresses the country’s parliament today

Russia claimed today that 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 wartime defence minister in what was hailed as an 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, civilians… are waiting for us.’

President Zelensky had nominated Umerov as defence minister after the resignation of Oleksiy Reznikov, calling for ‘new approaches’ in the wake of several corruption scandals in the ministry.






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