Ukraine death toll rises in "fireball" attack caught on video as US gives millions more in aid
Kostiantynivka, Ukraine - A Russian strike killed more than a dozen people, including a child, in a market in the frontline in east Ukraine, in an attack that President Volodymyr Zelensky described as "heinous evil".
The projectiles ripped into the center of Kostiantynivka, a town of nearly 70,000 people in the Donetsk region hours after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Kyiv to announce a new aid package.
Rescue workers picked through the debris and carried some of the nearly 30 wounded for treatment past charred vehicles and kiosks torn to pieces in the blast, according to images distributed by officials.
"Sixteen people have been killed, including one child," Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said on social media following the strike in the market about 12 miles from the front line.
The industrial Donetsk region has been partially controlled by Kremlin-backed separatists since 2014 and Russia claimed to have annexed in late last year.
"Anyone in the world who is still dealing with anything Russian simply ignores this reality. Heinous evil. Brazen wickedness. Utter inhumanity," Zelensky wrote on X.
The attack came as Blinken was set to unveil more than $1 billion in fresh aid to battle Russia.
During a meeting with Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Blinken reiterated Washington's support for Kyiv in its fight to liberate territory in the south and east.
Blinken hails "good progress" ahead of funding boost
"We want to make sure that Ukraine has what it needs, not only to succeed in the counteroffensive, but has what it needs for the long term, to make sure that it has a strong deterrent," he told Kuleba.
Blinken is expected to announce "more than $1 billion in new US funding for Ukraine," according to a senior State Department official.
The Kremlin dismissed Blinken's Kyiv visit, arguing US aid would not "influence the course of the special military operation" – Moscow's term for its offensive.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused Washington of wanting to "keep Ukraine in a state of war, to wage this war till the last Ukrainian".
Kyiv's army has said it is pressing on with "offensive operations" towards eastern Ukraine's war-battered town of Bakhmut – which fell to Russian forces in May – and the southern Moscow-occupied city of Melitopol.
It said troops had been "successful" near the southern villages of Robotyne and Novoprokopivka.
Blinken told Kuleba that "some good progress" had been seen, as lawmakers approved the nomination of Crimean Tatar Rustem Umerov as Kyiv's new wartime defense minister.
Crimean Tatars are an ethnic minority hailing from the Black Sea peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.
UPDATE, 6:45 PM EDT: Blinken unveils $175 million more to Ukraine as casualties increase
Updated reports have cited 17 people were killed in Russian shelling that hit the market in east Ukraine.
Another 32 people have been confirmed injured in the attack, according to reports.
Videos posted on the internet purporting to show the moment of the explosion showed a projectile hitting a busy street with a huge fireball, debris flying through the air, fires breaking out, bodies in the streets, and people running for their lives.
During Blinken's visit, the US Department of Defense pledged a further $175 million in aid to Kyiv. The aid package includes equipment to support Ukraine's air defense, ammunition for the HIMARS multiple rocket launchers, and artillery ammunition. For the first time, tank ammunition containing depleted uranium will also be delivered, intended for use in the US Abrams tanks.
The Pentagon says it has provided or pledged over $43 billion in military aid to Kyiv since the full-scale war began in late February 2022.
Meanwhile, one person died in overnight Russian drone and rocket attacks on Kyiv and the Odessa region, including the Izmail port area on the Danube river, officials in Ukraine said early Wednesday.
According to the Ukrainian air force, a total of 23 of the 33 flying objects were shot down.
Cover photo: via REUTERS