‘Heinous’ Russian strike on east Ukraine market kills 17

‘Heinous’ Russian strike on east Ukraine market kills 17

A Russian strike has killed at least 17 people at a market in east Ukraine, officials said, in an attack that President Volodymyr Zelensky described as deliberate and “heinous”.

Projectiles tore through the centre of Kostiantynivka – a town of nearly 70,000 people in the Donetsk region – hours after America’s top diplomat arrived in Kyiv to announce new wartime aid.

Ukraine’s newly appointed defence minister meanwhile vowed to liberate “every centimetre” of territory occupied by Russia in his first comments in the post.

Rescue workers picked through the debris and carried some of the wounded for treatment past charred vehicles and kiosks torn to pieces in the blast, according to images distributed by officials.

“Seventeen people were killed and 32 injured as a result of the Russian shelling,” Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said, announcing the rescue operation had ended.

Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said a child was among those killed in the attack, which took place about 20 kilometres from the front line.

“Anyone in the world who is still dealing with anything Russian simply ignores this reality,” said Mr Zelensky.

“Heinous evil. Brazen wickedness. Utter inhumanity.”

He later accused Russia of deliberately targeting civilians and said there were no military units “anywhere near” the scene.

The attack came as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Ukraine, with Washington set to unveil more than $1 billion in fresh aid to battle Russia.

‘Good progress’

During a meeting with Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Mr Blinken reiterated Washington’s support for Kyiv in its fight to liberate territory in the south and east.

“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 Mr Kuleba.

Mr Blinken is expected to announce “more than a billion dollars in new US funding for Ukraine”, said a senior State Department official.

The Kremlin dismissed Mr 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.

The US has supplied key weaponry to Ukraine that allowed it to launch its counteroffensive this summer and Blinken told Kuleba that “we’ve seen some good progress”.

But Ukraine has in recent weeks become increasingly frustrated with criticism that the counteroffensive has been too slow.

Russia said it had “improved its tactical position” near the north-western city of Kupiansk, where it has led a local offensive for weeks.

It also hit Ukraine’s south-western Odesa region, near the border with Romania, with drone attacks overnight, killing one person.

‘Everything possible and impossible’

In what was hailed as a historic move, Ukrainian lawmakers approved the nomination of Crimean Tatar Rustem Umerov as Kyiv’s new wartime defence minister.

Crimean Tatars are an ethnic minority hailing from the Black Sea peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.

“I will do everything possible and impossible for the victory of Ukraine – when we liberate every centimetre of our country and every one of our people,” he said in a post on social media.

The 41-year-old businessman has been involved in prisoner exchange negotiations involving Saudi Arabia and grain export talks with Turkey and the United Nations.

“Children, prisoners of war, political prisoners, civilians… are waiting for us,” he said.

Mr Zelensky had nominated Mr Umerov as new defence minister after the resignation of Oleksiy Reznikov, calling for “new approaches” in the wake of several corruption scandals in the ministry.

“It is the highest state post ever held by a Tatar (from Crimea),” Sergiy Leshchenko, an advisor to the presidential administration, told AFP.

Danish PM visits

A string of Western leaders has visited Kyiv during the war, pledging support against Russian forces.

Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was the latest to travel to the Ukrainian capital today, after pledging to supply Ukraine with 19 F-16 fighter jets.

Denmark and the Netherlands last month announced they would provide the advanced jets to strengthen Kyiv’s Soviet-era air force.

State Department spokesman Matthew Millar said Mr Blinken had met Ms Frederiksen as they travelled to Ukraine and thanked her for “its decision to donate F-16 jets to Ukraine.”

UK to declare Wagner group a terrorist organisation

Russian mercenary group Wagner is to be declared a terrorist organisation, Britain’s Home Office has said.

A draft proscription order will be laid against Wagner Group in parliament today.

The group has played a prominent role in the Russian invasion of Ukraine since it was launched in February 2022.

The order will mean that, once passed, it is illegal to be a member of or support Wagner Group.

Wagner’s assets can also be categorised as terrorist property and seized.

Certain proscription offences can be punishable by up to 14 years in jail.

Proscription of the group comes after consideration of the nature and scale of the organisation’s activities as well as the threat they pose to British nationals abroad, the Home Office added.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman said: “Wagner is a violent and destructive organisation which has acted as a military tool of Vladimir Putin’s Russia overseas.

“While Putin’s regime decides what to do with the monster it created, Wagner’s continuing destabilising activities only continue to serve the Kremlin’s political goals.

“They are terrorists, plain and simple – and this proscription order makes that clear in UK law. Wagner has been involved in looting, torture and barbarous murders. Its operations in Ukraine, the Middle East and Africa are a threat to global security.

“That is why we are proscribing this terrorist organisation and continuing to aid Ukraine wherever we can in its fight against Russia.”

It comes after Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was killed in a plane crash last month.

The crash occurred exactly two months after Mr Prigozhin mounted a short-lived armed rebellion against Russia’s military leadership, posing the biggest challenge to President Vladimir Putin’s authority in his 23-year rule.

Additional reporting PA