Kostiantynivka (Ukraine), Sep 7: Victims of a deadly Russian missile attack that struck a busy market in eastern Ukraine were buried Thursday, as Moscow kept up its assault on Ukraine’s grain export infrastructure, hitting a Ukrainian port for the fourth time in five days. At least 17 people were killed and 32 wounded in Wednesday’s attack on the market in Kostiantynivka, in Ukraine’s Donestsk region – another grim reminder of the war’s civilian toll. Among the victims were Mykola and Natalia Shyrai, whose bodies were laid to rest in a village outside Kostiantynivka on Thursday. The married couple, in their 50s, had been selling flowers in the market when they were killed in the blast. Dozens of people from the small settlement arrived to say their final farewells as caskets covered white cloth were shut and lowered. The attack the previous day had turned an outdoor market into a fiery, blackened ruin, and overshadowed a two-day visit by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken aimed at assessing Ukraine’s 3-month-old counteroffensive and signaling continued U.S. support for the fight. While touring northern Ukraine on Thursday, Blinken said the death and destruction in Kostiantynivka was “what Ukrainians are living with every day.” Hours earlier, Russia attacked the Ukrainian port city of Izmail for the fourth time in five days, Ukrainian officials said Thursday, in what has become a sustained campaign to target Ukraine’s ability to export grain.
The Danube River port area was attacked with Shahed drones aiming at civilian and port infrastructure, Odesa region Gov. Oleh Kiper said. A truck driver was wounded and grain silos were damaged, he said.
Ukrainian war crimes prosecutors inspected the wreckage at the scene close to port infrastructure on Thursday, according to a statement from the Ukrainian Prosecutor’s Office. The Ukrainian military said it shot down 25 out of 33 drones launched by Russia overnight, most of them at the Odesa region, Ukraine’s agriculture export hub, as well as the northern Sumy region.
Russia has escalated attacks on Ukraine’s grain export infrastructure since mid-July, when it exited a U.N.-backed deal that had allowed for the safe shipping of Ukrainian grain during the war. The area, just 15-20 kilometers from the front line, has been shelled by Russia several times, and the sounds of the not-so-distant war boom throughout the day, according to the eye witnesses.
Blinken visited a school in the village of Yahidne where hundreds of residents were imprisoned when Russian forces occupied the village at the start of the full-scale invasion. Blinken said Russian atrocities continue. Blinken announced $90.5 million in demining assistance as part of a package of U.S. military and humanitarian aid totalling over $1 billion on Wednesday. (AP)
