Seventeen people are killed when a Russian missile hits a market in the deadliest civilian strike since April

Konstantinovka is the last place where Russia attacked Ukrainian civilians. Photo: NEXTA TV

With about 70,000 people before the war, Konstantinovka is located about 19 miles from the front line in Bakhmut and is part of the urban agglomeration that anchors the Ukrainian-controlled part of the Donetsk region.

This is the latest in a series of strikes against a busy commercial property in Ukrainian-controlled cities in the east.

In June, Russian rockets blew up a busy pizzeria in nearby Kramatorsk, killing 13 people and injuring 61. Last month, a twin rocket attack struck a hotel and restaurant frequented by journalists and aid workers in Pokrovsk, 30 miles southwest. Nine people were killed and at least 88 injured.

Earlier Wednesday, Ukrainian forces said they shot down eight Russian missiles fired at Kyiv without loss.

Dozens of Russian drones also attacked targets near the Romanian border in the southern Odesa region, where one person was reportedly killed.

Romania's foreign minister said fragments of a drone were found on its side of the border after the attack. a similar attack on Monday. Earlier, Romania denied Ukrainian reports that a Russian drone had landed on the territory of a NATO member.

The United States is going to announce a new $1 billion aid package for Ukraine

The attack on Konstantinovka came on the same day that Ukraine's parliament swore in a new defense secretary and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken arrived in Kyiv for talks with President Zelensky and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.

< p>Mr Blinken, who is expected to announce a new military aid package worth more than $1 billion, said there was «very encouraging» progress in Ukraine's offensive in the Zaporozhye region.

Ukrainian forces killed 49 Russian elites paratroopers in one day in an operation to prevent their transfer to the Zaporozhye front.

Soldiers of the 7th Guards Mountain Airborne Division (VDV) got into a fierce battle after being pinned down near the village of Staromayorskoe in the neighboring Donetsk region, Russian military bloggers report.

«Ukrainian counteroffensive operations in Donetsk — In the border area of ​​the Zaporozhye region, most likely, it will be possible to pin down units of the 7th Guards Mountain Airborne Division and prevent their lateral redeployment to critical sectors of the front in the west of the Zaporozhye region,» the Institute for the Study of War reported.

< p>A U.S.-based think tank that monitors the battlefield previously reported that elements of the 76th Guards Air Assault Division, considered one of Russia's main fighting forces, had reached the village of Robotine to counter the Ukrainian advance.

< p>The message comes after a Kremlin-appointed official in southern Ukraine said Russian forces had «tactically» withdrawn from Robotine, the main offensive line in Kiev's counteroffensive.