A Russian airstrike on a supermarket in Kostyantynivka, an eastern Ukrainian town, resulted in at least 10 deaths and 35 injuries on Friday, according to Ukraine’s Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko.
The town, situated approximately 13 kilometers (eight miles) from the nearest Russian positions, has been subjected to frequent strikes.
“Ten were killed and 35 others were wounded,” Klymenko announced in a Telegram post.
He shared images showing firefighters sifting through the smouldering debris of the destroyed building.
The chaos was palpable, with AFP journalists observing people fleeing the area as police issued warnings of a potential second strike.
Thick plumes of black smoke rose from the ruins, and police cordoned off nearby streets to contain the situation.
The area was also marked by the sound of drones and increased artillery fire.
In response to the attack, President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed that Russia would face consequences.
“Russia will be held accountable for this terror,” he declared in a Telegram post.
This strike occurred in the middle of the day and coincided with the fourth day of a major Ukrainian cross-border incursion into Russia’s western Kursk region.
Vadym Filashkin, the governor of Donetsk, confirmed that Russian forces had targeted the town with cannon artillery.
“This is another targeted attack on a crowded place,” Filashkin stated.
The attack comes just one day after a previous incident in the same town, where two civilians were killed.
The escalation of violence underscores the severity of the ongoing conflict, with civilian areas increasingly becoming the focus of military operations.
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