Witness accounts and an analysis of video and weapon fragments suggest a Ukrainian missile failed to hit its intended target and landed in a bustling street, with devastating consequences.
Snicky, one-sided reasoning -- "Well, Ukraine has done it. But! It's still Russia who is to blame". That's why we have what we do.
If Ukraine hadn't played with the attempts to join NATO, invited by USA and Europe, Russia wouldn't have invaded it.
If Ukraine hadn't descriminated the russians in Lugansk and Donetsk for a decade, Russia wouldn't have invaded it.
@cuenca@Cyclist That was the EXCUSE, not the reason. The reason was that Putin wants to completely rebuild the USSR and that entails expanding its borders over UKr, Moldovia, Romania, Bulgaria, etc. until it looms over Europe and then take the rest of Europe. It is a KNOWN ambition of his. Don't be silly. This is about one man's megalomaniac dreams. It has only superficial connections to real politics.
Even if it was a Ukrainian air defence missile what difference does it make? It was fired in self-defence. Those civilians would still be alive along with many many thousand more civilians if Russian hasn’t attacked them. There can be no justification or excuse.
Read the history of the conflict since 2014. Read about the Mink and Minsk2 agreements which Ukraine didn't respect. Read about Ukraine's attempts to join NATO.
Feel like the argument is pretty weak "UAF launched a surface-to-air missile around that area, around that time, therefore they were the ones bombing themselves".
I'm not sure what that's suppose to prove. If the city was targeted by an attack, yeah, air defence likely get into action to protect it. Them being active at that precise moment is expected.
I can't find the non-paywalled article, i guess i am missing more conclusive evidences.
Air defense experts say missiles like the one that hit the market can go off course for a variety of reasons, including an electronic malfunction or a guidance fin that is damaged or sheared off at the time of launch.
Russian forces shelled Kostiantynivka the night before; Ukrainian artillery fire from the city was reported in a local Telegram group just minutes before the strike on the market.
Further evidence reveals that minutes before the strike, the Ukrainian military launched two surface-to-air missiles toward the Russian front line from the town of Druzhkivka, 10 miles northwest of Kostiantynivka.
In the aftermath of the attack, Ukrainian authorities said Russian forces used a missile fired by an S-300 air defense system, which Russia has used both to intercept aircraft and strike targets on the ground.
The metal facades of buildings closest to the explosion were perforated with hundreds of square or rectangular holes, probably made by cube-like objects blown outward from the missile.
In any case, at such a short range — less than 10 miles — the missile is most likely to have landed with unspent fuel in its rocket motor, which would detonate or burn upon impact, offering a possible explanation for the widespread scorch marks at the market.
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