At least 16 people were killed on Wednesday and 31 others injured by a Russian bombardment on a market in eastern Ukraine, about thirty kilometers from Bakhmout, the scene of a bloody battle with troops from Moscow for more than ‘a year. This strike comes as the head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken is in kyiv and should announce a new aid of one billion dollars.
The main information:
– A Russian strike on a market kills 16, according to Volodymyr Zelensky
– US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken pays surprise visit to Kyiv
– Romania, a neighbor of Ukraine, has found possible drone debris on its soil
The rescue operation continues
“Artillery of Russian terrorists killed 16 people in the town of Kostiantynivka, Donetsk region,” wrote the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky on social networks. Reporting on a market and shops affected, he warned that “unfortunately the number of dead and injured could increase”. CCTV images show a quiet shopping alley, when suddenly the whistle of a projectile is heard, followed by a very loud explosion.
At least 16 people have been killed by Russian shelling in Kostyantynivka, Donetsk region. Russian terrorists have attacked a regular market, shops, and a pharmacy, killing innocent people. The number of casualties could rise further.
Anyone in the world who is still dealing… pic.twitter.com/PRfuGih2JD
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) September 6, 2023
The general prosecutor’s office reported 31 injuries. “The rescue operation is continuing. There are still people under the rubble,” the prosecutor’s office added on Telegram. Despite the multiple strikes that have hit civilian sites in Ukraine, causing many deaths, Moscow claims to systematically target and destroy military targets. Early in the morning, a Russian explosive drone strike has already killed one person in the Odessa region (south), where port infrastructure necessary for wheat exports is regularly targeted.
a billion dollars
This very heavy toll comes as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken makes a surprise visit on Wednesday, his fourth to Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022. During his meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kouleba, before the announcement of the balance sheet of the strike, he reaffirmed the determination of the United States to support kyiv to achieve the liberation of the occupied territories. “We want to make sure that Ukraine has what it needs in the long term… and strong deterrents,” he said.
According to a senior State Department official, he is expected to announce “new US funding for Ukraine of over $1 billion”, or about 930 million euros. The Kremlin reacted by accusing the United States of “keeping Ukraine in a state of war” and assuring that American assistance cannot “influence the outcome of the special military operation”, the euphemism imposed in Russia to evoke this invasion.
Romania, neighbor of Ukraine, found possible drone debris on its soil
Technical expertise will now be carried out to determine “their origin” and “the conclusions will be published as soon as possible”, it is indicated. These fragments were located in the vicinity of Plauru, a Romanian village located just opposite the river port of Izmail, on the Danube which separates Romania from Ukraine.
President Klaus Iohannis, who had firmly denied the previous day the presence of any debris on Romanian soil, quickly took the floor. “If it were confirmed that these elements belonged to a Russian drone, such a situation would be completely inadmissible and would constitute a serious violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Romania,” he said at the opening. of the Three Seas Initiative Summit, bringing together leaders from Central and Eastern Europe.
A difficult counter-offensive
The Ukrainian counter-offensive has been advancing with difficulty since June, but Kiev hopes to be close to a breakthrough, since the capture of the village Robotyne at the end of August, which could open the way to the South and Crimea, its peninsula annexed in 2014 by Moscow. Russia has never admitted having ceded this locality and the Russian Ministry of Defense said on Wednesday that it had repelled four more Ukrainian attacks in the area.
Antony Blinken will also meet President Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss the counter-offensive as well as the future reconstruction of the country, which was among the poorest in Europe already before the invasion. During his train journey to kyiv, Antony Blinken also spoke with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, who delivered a speech to the Ukrainian Parliament in the morning. The American thanked Mette Frederiksen “for Denmark’s leadership” regarding Copenhagen’s decision, announced two weeks ago along with that of the Netherlands, to supply F-16 fighters to Ukraine.
“Free Every Inch”
In kyiv, in the morning, he went to a cemetery to lay a wreath in memory of the Ukrainian soldiers killed at the front. The Ukrainian parliament, for its part, voted on Wednesday the unprecedented appointment of a Crimean Tatar, Roustem Oumerov, to the post of Minister of Defense. “I will do everything possible and impossible for the victory of Ukraine, when we have liberated every centimeter of our country and every one of our people,” Mr. Oumerov wrote on his Facebook page shortly after his appointment.
At 41, he replaces Oleksiï Reznikov, one of the faces of Ukrainian resistance against the Russians, but weakened by corruption scandals within his administration. His successor has the reputation of being a discreet and pragmatic negotiator. He will have the heavy task of negotiating the deliveries of Western arms that his country needs to force the Russian army into retirement.