A Russian missile attack killed at least 17 people in a Ukrainian market on Wednesday as analysts revealed that nearly 50 elite Russian soldiers were killed in action en route to a key area of the battlefield.
The open-air market quickly turned into a blackened ruin on Wednesday as sobbing civilians searched for their loved ones amid the gruesome scene following the deadly attack in Kostiantynivka, near the front line in the Donetsk region.
At least 32 other people were injured in addition to the 17 confirmed deaths. At least one child is among the dead, authorities said.
“There was no military objective here,” said resident Stefan Slovak. “This is a quiet neighborhood in the center of the city.”
As the resident spoke, charred and mangled bodies could be seen behind him. The attack was one of the deadliest attacks on civilians in months.
Rescuers rushed to put out the flames as some of the bodies were still burning on the ground, according to footage. Paramedics carried the injured civilians to emergency vehicles.
Paramedics carry on a stretcher the body of a man who died after a Russian rocket attack on the food market.AP
The attack comes as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced more than $1 billion in new funding for the war in kyiv.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the attack a deliberate attack during a press conference in kyiv with visiting Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.
“Those who know this place know very well that it is a civilian area,” Zelensky said. “There are no military units nearby.”
Moscow had no immediate comment, but the Kremlin has consistently denied targeting civilians.
The Russian 7th Guards Mountain Airborne Division (VDV) lost 49 soldiers in one day in eastern Ukraine. In the photo: funeral in Ufa, Russia, of a VDV fighter. Telegram
Zelensky said the attack was motivated by his country’s progress on the battlefield.
“Whenever there is positive progress by the Ukrainian defense forces in that direction, the Russians always attack civilian people and objects,” he said.
Part of Ukraine’s recent success includes the deaths of 49 soldiers from the VDV 7th Division near the settlement of Staromayorske in the eastern Donetsk region amid the Ukrainian counteroffensive, according to an update from the Institute for War Studies.
The think tank cited a Russian military blogger who on Tuesday shared an audio recording apparently of a soldier from the Russian Guard’s 7th Mountain Air Assault Division, in which he stated that he had to recover the remains of his comrades.
The unidentified soldier complained that “the Russian command does not supervise the recovery of the bodies and claimed that his unit lost 49 combat fatalities in one day of fighting.”
Members of the Russian elite division were said to be fighting in the area of Robotyne’s strategic settlement in Zaporizhzhia. Russian Defense Ministry
The soldier’s comments, according to think tank analysts, suggest his regiment is still defending Russian positions in the western Donetsk and eastern Zaporizhzhia regions, which have seen some of the fiercest fighting in recent months.
The institute added in its update that Ukrainian counteroffensive operations in the Donetsk-Zaporizhzhia border area “are likely succeeding in immobilizing elements of the 7th Guards Mountain Airborne Division (VDV)” and preventing their redeployment in critical areas of the front in western Zaporizhzhia.
Ukrainian forces have liberated a number of villages in Zaporizhzhia since the start of their counteroffensive. Via REUTERS
A senior Russian source reported last month that members of Russia’s elite division were fighting in the area of the strategically important settlement of Robotyne, which Kiev forces claimed to have liberated in late August, marking a gradual intensification of their three-year counteroffensive. months.
On his fourth secret visit to Ukraine on Wednesday, Blinken said Ukraine’s progress on the counteroffensive is “very, very encouraging.”
Russian forces have allegedly withdrawn from the village of Robotyne.Telegram
“President Biden asked me to come here to firmly reaffirm our support,” Blinken told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, fresh from his latest visit to the front lines in Donetsk.
“To ensure that we are maximizing the efforts that we are making, and that other countries are making, for the immediate challenge of the counteroffensive, as well as the longer-term efforts to help Ukraine build a force of the future that can deter and defend against any future aggression.”
After a slow start to the counteroffensive, due in part to Russia’s formidable first line of fortifications protected by extensive minefields, the Ukrainian military suggested that subsequent lines of defense might be easier to break through than the first.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (right) told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that Ukraine’s progress in the counteroffensive is “very, very encouraging.”
Brigadier General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, who commands Ukrainian forces in southern Ukraine, said in an interview with The Guardian last week that he expects faster advances in Ukraine as his forces press on a weaker second line of defense.
Tarnavskiy estimated that Russia had spent 60% of its time building the first defensive line and only 20% on the second and third lines because the enemy was not expecting the Ukrainians to break through.
with postal wires
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Source: vtt.edu.vn