A likely Russian artillery attack kills at least six people at a Ukrainian market

Kyiv, Ukraine – An apparent Russian artillery strike hit a market in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson on Tuesday, killing at least six people and wounding three others, authorities said, on a morning when Ukrainians across the country observed a minute's silence for their military and war dead.

The strike occurred as shoppers walked between stalls at the city center market, regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said.

He posted a video showing the blurred bodies of people in plain clothes lying near a stall selling tomatoes and other vegetables.

Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office said the attack was “most likely” carried out by Russian artillery and hit near a public transport stop.

It was initially reported that seven people had been killed, but the figure was later revised to six as one seriously injured person, who was believed to be dead, was in intensive care at a local hospital.

The city has not been a recent flashpoint in the war, which is now almost into its third year, as the fiercest fighting has taken place in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, where the Russian army is pushing hard to break ground before winter to win.

Ukrainian forces have hit back with an invasion of the Russian border region of Kursk, but the government is waiting to see what further military and financial support it can expect from the West.

The Kherson region was one of four regions, including Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhia, that Moscow illegally annexed and partially occupied in September 2022. Russian President Vladimir Putin wants Ukraine to completely withdraw from these regions. Ukraine refuses.

Kherson fell into Russian hands after the full-scale invasion of Moscow in February 2022. A Ukrainian counteroffensive nine months later recaptured western areas of the Kherson region, including the regional capital of the same name.

The market attack came the same morning that Ukraine celebrated Defenders' Day, an annual holiday honoring the country's armed forces, veterans and war dead.

Across Ukraine, traffic stopped at 9 a.m. and people on sidewalks stopped to remember those who defended Ukraine and those who sacrificed their lives for the country.

People gathered at Independence Square in the Ukrainian capital Kiev carrying pictures of fallen Ukrainian soldiers.

“For others, life goes on, but unfortunately for us it stopped when my brother's heart stopped,” said Angelina Stashenko, holding a portrait of her 30-year-old brother Denys Stashenko, who was killed in Donetsk in May Region.

“I hope that future generations will never forget the price our loved ones paid for their freedom. … I hope that the future of Ukraine will be bright,” said his mother, Halyna Stashenko.

The national holiday was established in 2014 and first celebrated in 2015, following Russia's annexation of Crimea and occupation of parts of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Although no official or reliable statistics are available, tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians are believed to have died fighting against Russia over the past decade.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky took the opportunity to ask his country's Western partners for further support following his visit to the United States last week.

“Daily Russian terror, daily attempts to destroy lives – all of this can be stopped,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram after the attack on Kherson, adding: “Ukraine’s strength and the determination of our partners must be greater than Putin’s wish “To spread terror.”

In an address to the military, Zelensky thanked the troops for their sacrifices.

“They are committed to ensuring that Ukraine does not surrender. Both those who were born warriors and those who became warriors. You changed your own life so that our freedom remains unchanged,” Zelensky said.

“We see your courage. We see it every day and every night. On weekdays and weekends. In heat and frost. Always. Every minute. A minute whose value you know better than anyone. One minute that can change absolutely everything,” he said.

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Vasilisa Stepanenko in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed to this report.

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