Rescue operations ongoing after deadly Russian strike on Kostiantynivka supermarket

A Russian missile strike on a supermarket in the Ukrainian city of Kostiantynivka killed at least 11 people and injured 37 others, the Prosecutor General’s Office said on Friday. Donetsk Regional Governor Vadym Filashkin initially reported that the city had come under artillery attack, but later said that Russian forces struck the supermarket with a Kh-38 missile. 

Update: On Friday evening, Zelensky’s office reported that the death toll from the strike on Kostiantynivka had risen to 14 people. At least 44 others were injured, the State Emergency Service said.

According to Ukrainian media reports, the strike hit an Ekomarket store. The Prosecutor General’s Office later clarified that the attack damaged a local shopping center with grocery and hardware stores, as well as other businesses. 

At the time of publication, rescue operations were ongoing. “There are people under the rubble. A rescue operation is underway, and everything will be done to save them,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a post on X. “Russia will be held accountable for this terror, and we will do our best to ensure that the world continues to stand with Ukraine in supporting our defense and saving the lives of our people.”

Around 2:00 p.m. local time, Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko reported that emergency workers had extinguished a large fire that broke out at the shopping center as a result of the strike. In addition to the supermarket, he said, the attack damaged four residential buildings, a Nova Poshta center, and several other businesses. 

Nova Poshta, Ukraine’s largest postal service, said the strike completely destroyed its freight department in the shopping center, adding that one employee was hospitalized with a concussion. 

“The Russians deliberately targeted civilians. After all, stores are civilian objects that provide people with access to goods. There is no military logic in such a strike — it’s just terrorism,” Ekomarket said in a statement. 

Commenting on the attack, Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets also emphasized that the supermarket is “a civilian object where many civilians could be” located. “The occupiers know this and they strike. They massively and systematically violate human rights! The world must respond to it!” he said on Telegram. 

The Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office has initiated a criminal investigation into the attack on charges of violating the laws and customs of war.