President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X, “Russian terrorists hit an ordinary supermarket and a post office. There are people under the rubble.”
Zelenskyy vowed retaliation in response to the attack, “Russia will be held accountable for this terror,” AFP reported quoting the Ukrainian President’s post on Telegram.
Interior minister Igor Klymenko shared the grim details of the attack on Telegram, stating, “10 were killed and 35 others were wounded.” He also posted photographs showing firefighters working amidst the smouldering debris of the destroyed building.
According to the interior minister’s post on Telegram, residential houses, shops, and more than a dozen cars were also damaged in the attack.
The interior minister said that the strike caused a fire, which had been extinguished. Images and videos shared by officials showed heavy black smoke clouds rising from the destroyed building.
Nova Poshta, Ukraine’s largest private postal company, said its cargo office in the supermarket was damaged in the strike.
“All our employees are alive. One colleague received a concussion – he is getting all the necessary help,” the company said on X.
Kostiantynivka is situated just about 13 kilometers from the active combat line in Ukraine’s east. Kyiv-held parts of the Donetsk region are regularly subjected to Russian shelling and air strikes.
Vadym Filashkin, the Ukrainian governor of the Donetsk region, reported that Russian forces had shelled the town using cannon artillery. He described the incident as “another targeted attack on a crowded place.” The strike comes just one day after the tragic loss of two civilians in the same town, as reported by Filashkin.