“Seventeen people died and 32 were injured as a result of the Russian shelling,” Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said, announcing that the rescue operation had ended.
Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said that among those killed in the attack, which took place some 20 kilometers from the front line, was a child.
President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the attack, which hit a market, shops and a pharmacy in the town of Kostiantynivka, close to the battlefield. There was a child among the 17 or more dead, and many people injured, he noted.
“This Russian evil must be defeated as soon as possible,” Zelensky declared.
Visit from Antony Blinken
These attacks took place as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken makes a surprise visit to the country, the fourth since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022.
During the meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmitro Kuleba, before the bombing against the market was reported, Blinken reaffirmed the determination of the United States to support Kiev to achieve the liberation of the occupied territories.
“We want to make sure Ukraine has everything it needs in the long term…and strong deterrents,” he said.
A senior official on his team told reporters that they expected to “announce more than $1 billion in new US funding for Ukraine in the course of this visit.”