Evidence suggests that a massive missile strike on a market in Ukraine initially attributed to Russia may have originated in Ukraine, The New York Times has reported.
The missile struck a busy shopping area in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kostiantynivka the same day that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Kyiv to announce more than $1 billion in additional funding for Ukraine.
The blast resulted in mass casualties, killing at least 15 civilians and injuring more than 30 others. Shortly after the incident, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy blamed Russian “terrorists” for the attack.
However, after apparently analyzing new evidence that came to light following the September 6 incident, the NYT concluded that the missile was more likely launched from a northwesterly direction, deeper inside Kyiv-held Ukraine.
The publication attributed its conclusion to “missile fragments, satellite imagery, witness accounts and social media posts,” which “strongly suggests the catastrophic strike was the result of an errant Ukrainian air defense missile fired by a Buk launch system.”
Much of the evidence was documented by NYT’s reporter in Ukraine, Thomas-Gibbons Neff, and Johns Ismay, a former bomb disposal officer in Washington, D.C.
According to the NYT, the crater and damage pattern created by the missile were consistent with a missile arriving from a northwesterly direction. Also, reports from the town of Druzhkivka, 10 miles northwest of Kostiantynivka, documented outgoing surface-to-air missiles being launched moments before the time of the market strike.
However, not all commentators were willing to buy the New York Times’ conclusion that the alleged Ukrainian strike was “a tragic mishap.”
Cal State University Professor Asad Abukhalil took to X to question why Ukraine was automatically given the benefit of the doubt with its actions characterized as accidental when, in the initial reports, Russia was extended no such consideration.
“Was it a tragic mishap when all Western media blamed Russia?” Abukhalil asked in a repost of the NYT’s revised conclusion.
Some observers noted how the timing of the report blaming Ukraine for a mass casualty event coincided with Zelenskyy’s visit to the U.S., which was intended to shore up waning support among lawmakers.
“This rare admission comes just as [Zelenskyy] is visiting the US to lobby for more cash and weapons… NYT Admits Zelensky Lied About Alleged ‘Russian Missile Strike’ on Donbas Market [Ukraine did it],” posted independent journalist Patrick Henningsen.
Podcast host Afshin Rattansi took to X to call on CNN to publicly correct its earlier reporting that Russia was behind “one of the worst attacks in months.”
Still, other commentators took issue with the NYT’s reallocation of blame.
Malcolm Nance, a former Navy officer who claims to now serve on Ukraine’s side as a “legionnaire,” criticized the new report on X, writing:
“WARNING: I can tell you PERSONALLY [Thomas Gibbons-Neff] is a liar and a fabricator. He is widely criticized in Ukraine for lazy anti-Ukraine reporting that often violates the [New York Times’] own ethical standards manual. He makes wild assumptions & in my case he just MADE S**T UP.
“His editor Matt Apuzzo checks virtually nothing. [John Ismay] is the only one with any credibility here but if Gibbons-Neff was the guy who collected the data on the ground I would discount it out of hand till an independent 3rd party confirmed it.”