A Russian missile crashed into a market in the heart of a Ukrainian city on Wednesday, killing at least 17 people in one of the deadliest attacks in months, officials said.
The attack on the industrial eastern city of Kostiantynivka came hours after Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in the capital, Kyiv, in a show of U.S. support.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the “utter inhumanity” of the attack, which he said had hit a regular market, shops and a pharmacy. “The number of casualties could rise further,” he said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that a child was among the dead, and Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko initially said 16 people were killed and 28 people were injured in the strike. He added that a rescuer was among the victims.
In a later Telegram post, Klymenko revised those figures and said that 17 people were killed and 32 were injured.
Video captures explosion
The fiery blast came from nowhere and within seconds debris and dust were flying into the air, in footage shared by Zelenskyy on Wednesday and geolocated by NBC News.
Shoppers were milling around before the explosion. For a brief second people freeze, then some of them start to run.
The footage then cuts to burning cars and buildings, a bloody floor in a store, and debris and rubble strewn across the street.
Russia has repeatedly denied that it is targeting civilians in what it calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine. NBC News has approached Russia’s defense ministry for comment about the attack on Kostiantynivka.
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