What the Kostiantynivka market strike left unresolved

What happened in Kostiantynivka, and who was responsible? On 12 September 2023, six days after the strike, those questions were still open.

On 6 September 2023, a missile hit an open market in downtown Kostiantynivka, in Donetsk Oblast. At least 15 people were killed and around 30 were injured. Among the dead were a child and a couple in their 50s who had been selling flowers at the market.

Competing accounts

Kyiv blamed Russia for the attack. Russia denied involvement. A New York Times investigation then pointed in a different direction: it found evidence suggesting that a Ukrainian 9M38 missile, fired by a mobile Buk antiaircraft vehicle, was responsible. That analysis relied on video and audio footage from near the launch site and from the town, along with study of the explosion and its aftermath, and placed the launch from Ukrainian positions west of Kostiantynivka.

A spokesman for the Security Service of Ukraine said the official investigation was continuing. He said investigators currently believed an S-300 missile launched by Russian forces had been used.

Why it mattered

The strike hit a place where civilians gathered for ordinary trade, and the dispute over the weapon involved showed how contested the attribution of such attacks could be. For the town's residents, the immediate reality was the toll: the dead, dozens of wounded, and a market that had been a daily point of commerce.