Editor’s Note: This story has been updated with a report from The New York Times that suggests the attack could have been from an errant Ukrainian missile.
At least 16 people were killed on Wednesday when a missile hit a crowded market in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced.
The Ukrainian leader shared a disturbing video of the moment that the market in Kostiantynivka in the eastern Donetsk region was hit. The sound of an incoming projectile can be heard before a large explosion erupts in the middle of a road, damaging surrounding buildings and prompting terrified civilians to flee.
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Zelensky claimed that the attack was carried out by Russian “terrorists,” but it subsequently emerged that the damage may have been done by a misfired Ukrainian missile. A New York Times investigation published Sept. 18 cited open-source evidence and eyewitnesses and concluded that the tragedy may have been a friendly fire accident. Ukrainian officials disputed the report and said they would conduct an investigation.
Following the clip of the explosion, Zelensky’s video included other images from the attack. They showed burning cars and buildings. A woman on her knees, crying out next to a lifeless body. Corpses strewn along the street. A pharmacy’s floor covered with blood. Firefighters battling the flames.
Zelensky expressed his condolences “to all who have lost loved ones” and said, “Russian evil must be defeated as soon as possible.”
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said the fire had been contained after the explosion and thanked emergency services for their efforts in responding to the massacre.
“As a result of the shelling of the market, 16 people are already known to have died, including 1 child,” Shmyhal wrote on Telegram. “At least 20 people were injured.”
The attack Wednesday comes just two days after the chairman of the UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine said it had not yet received sufficient evidence to conclude that a genocide is taking place in Ukraine. Chairman Erik Møse said the inquiry had found a “large number of war crimes,” however, and that “certain statements in Russian media” could “be relevant to the issue of incitement to genocide.”
The strike also occurred on the same day that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Kyiv in a show of support for Ukraine. A senior State Department official told reporters on the trip that Blinken is likely to announce another $1 billion worth of wartime assistance to Ukraine during his two-day visit, according to Reuters.
