(CNN) � At least 16 people have been killed, including a child, after a Russian missile struck a market in a town in the eastern Ukrainian region of , officials said, one of the worst attacks in months.
Ukrainian officials said 28 others were wounded in the attack on Kostiantynivka.
“Russian troops are terrorists who will not be forgiven and will not be left in peace,� Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal wrote on Telegram. “There will be a just retribution for everything.�
Russian missile attacks regularly hit civilian areas but tolls this high are unusual. A strike on an apartment block in the central city of killed 23 people, including children, in April, and a similar strike on killed 40 in January.
Kostiantynivka is close to the front lines around Bakhmut and frequently crowded with military personnel.
But footage of the attack shared by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky showed civilians walking along the market street before the missile struck on Wednesday afternoon.
The video showed a fierce fire and plumes of thick black smoke billowing from the frames of burning cars and buildings, as firefighters responded at the scene.
Zelensky branded the attack as “utter inhumanity.�
“When someone in the world still attempts to deal with anything Russian, it means turning a blind eye to this reality. The audacity of evil,� Zelensky said.
“The brazenness of wickedness. Utter inhumanity.�
The strike was launched just hours after US Secretary of State landed in Kyiv in his third visit to Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion.
Blinken is scheduled to meet with Zelensky during his trip, from whom he is expecting a firsthand report of Ukrainian efforts to regain land around Bakhmut, which lies to the west of Kostiantynivka.
The visit comes as Ukraine’s counteroffensive enters its fourth month, with both political and military leaders in Kyiv talking up recent gains, especially along the southern front, following growing concerns the concerted push on the battlefield has been slower than had been hoped.
In a brief exchange with Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba, Blinken noted the “good progress� Ukraine has made in its counteroffensive.
The strike also came shortly after Rustem Umerov became Ukraine’s new defense minister, after the Ukrainian parliament voted to approve his appointment.
In his in his new role, Umerov vowed to wrest back control of “every centimeter� of Ukrainian land from Russia and bring home all those in captivity.
The-CNN-Wire
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