In the troubled realms of Eastern Ukraine, a devastating missile launched by Russia descended upon a bustling outdoor market on a fateful Wednesday, morphing it into a fiery ruin of desolation. Weeping civilians sifted through blackened rubble, desperately searching for their loved ones amidst mutilated, charred bodies strewn across the ground. The terrorizing blast swept through the tranquil town of Kostiantynivka, claiming 17 lives and injuring an estimated 32 individuals, ensuing in one of Russia’s deadliest strikes in months, as conveyed by Ukrainian officials.
Enveloped by a sorrowful hysteria, the voice of Stefan Slovak, a local resident of Kostiantynivka, quivered, “This is a peaceful neighbourhood in the heart of the city. There was no military target here.” His melancholic words dissipated into the haunting silence that bore witness to the remains of the communal market. The carnage on the streets was grim – charred bodies lay motionless, engulfed in clinging flames, adjacent to incinerated vehicles. In the rubble, behind a market stall that once stood spilling over with fresh parsley, a civilian woman was discovered, blood glistening on her face.
Evocative images captured the sight of emergency workers wrestling to douse the enduring blazes and ministering to the injured amidst decimated structures and burnt-out cars. “They are annihilating peaceful civilians. Are we warriors here? Are we counter-attacking? No! So why this unprovoked devastation? Their only motive is to obliterate the Ukrainian nation,” expressed Nadezhda Negoda, another local resident.
While addressing a news conference in Kyiv, the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, known to have visited the town of Kostiantynivka several times, vociferously condemned the strike, calling it an intentional violation of peace. He argued, “This location is known to everybody as a civilian area, devoid of military installations.” According to the President, the horrendous strike mirrors the current warfare scenario. He postulated, “Whenever Ukrainian defence forces gain some headway, Russians never hesitate to target innocent civilians and their belonging.”
Ihor Klymenko, Ukraine’s internal affairs minister, reported how emergency personnel tackled and subdued the raging flames, which had demolished an area extending over 300 square meters. The strike force undid eight market installations and several vehicles. The scale of the destruction was immense: about thirty pavilions, twenty shops, an admin building, an apartment complex, and critical power lines bore the brunt of the attack, as per the general prosecutor’s office of Ukraine.
This nerve-shattering attack coincided with the arrival of the United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Kyiv. His visit catered the expectancy of an announcement centered around an additional sum exceeding $1 billion as American funding to support Ukraine in its ongoing conflict spanning 18 months.
