KOSTYANTYNIVKA: Russ­ian missiles hit a densely populated area of the eastern Ukrainian city of Kostyan­tynivka on Sunday, killing six people, police said.

There was a large crater in a yard and windows were shattered from ground to top floors in two 14-storey tower blocks, while nearby private houses had smashed roofs, journalists saw.

Donetsk regional police said that Russia fired S-300 and Uragan missiles in a “massive attack” involving six strikes just after 10am local time. Kostyantynivka is around 27km from the city of Bakhmut, where the war’s heaviest fighting is continuing.

Prosecutors said three women and three men aged from late 40s to mid-60s were killed, while eight more were injured. The blast hit “16 apartment buildings, 8 private residences, a kindergarten, an administrative building, three cars and a gas pipeline”, police said.

Liliya, a 19-year-old psychology student, stood outside her severely damaged high-rise block. Broken glass rained down from windows as she spoke.

“I found out about this on the news. And when I was told about it and I saw that it was my area, I was just shocked,” Liliya said.

“I’m very very lucky that I wasn’t home at that moment,” she added, after deciding to stay with her boyfriend.

“Everything is bombed out. And I think it’s like that in every flat in fact. Because it was such an impact that it was very hard for anything to stay unbroken.” Nina, a pensioner, was looking at the damage to her ground-floor flat in a Soviet-era block. She was also not home when the missile struck.

“The internal doors and the front door were blown in. An internal partition wall has broken. There’s not a single window left,” she said.

“So many people have suffered. “It’s horrifying. It’s just a nightmare.” Soldiers were examining the scene afterwards as well an armed man in civilian clothes.

Watching, holding a shopping bag, Sergiy, 61, said “the shock wave came all the way to us, about a kilometre away”.

262 Ukrainian athletes killed

In the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion on Ukraine in Feb 2022, a number of Ukrai­nian national-level athletes have taken up arms voluntarily to defend their country.

Russia’s war against Ukraine has claimed the lives of 262 Ukrainian athletes and destroyed 363 sports facilities, the country’s sports minister, Vadym Huttsait, said on Saturday.

Meeting the visiting president of the International Federation of Gymnastics, Morinari Watanabe, Huttsait said no athletes from Russia should be allowed at the Olympics or other sports competitions.

“They all support this war and attend events held in support of this war,” Huttsait said, according to a transcript on President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s website.

The International Olympic Committee has recommended the gradual return of Russian and Belarusian athletes to international competition as neutrals. It has not decided on their participation in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Ukraine said on Friday its athletes will not be allowed to take part in qualifying events for the 2024 Games if they have to compete against Russians, a decision the IOC has criticised.

Among those killed this year alone have been figure skater Dmytro Sharpar, who died in combat near Bakhmut, and Volodymyr Androshchuk, a 22-year-old decathlon champion and future Olympic hopeful.

Published in Dawn, April 3rd, 2023