Top story in yesterday’s Russian television news: ‘The New York Times’ investigative reporting on who is to blame for a deadly attack on civilians in Eastern Ukraine
Much of the daily news and analysis program Sixty Minutes as well as the prime time edition of Vesti was devoted yesterday to a story published in The New York Times early in the day identifying Ukrainian responsibility for a deadly missile attack on a market in the Ukrainian controlled town of Kostiantynivka on 6 September. That disaster left 17 dead and dozens more with serious injuries requiring hospitalization. It was the single largest loss of civilian life in Ukraine in many months.
In a public statement shortly after the event, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky accused the Russians of the attack. Per the NYT article that we will examine in a moment:
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Less than two hours later, President Volodymyr Zalensky blamed Russian ‘terrorists’ for the attack, and many media outlets followed suit. Throughout its invasion of Ukraine, Russia has repeatedly and systematically attacked civilians and struck schools, markets and residences as a deliberate tactic to instill fear in the populace. In Kostiantynivka in April, they shelled homes and a preschool, killing six.
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The Sixty Minutes report aired a highly relevant video clip of Zelensky’s remarks on the 6th. He said that he knew the town of Kostiantynivka very well, having visited it multiple times, and that it was a purely civilian location, with no military activities whatsoever.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was in Kiev on a visit at the time to bring news of further American commitments to provide weaponry to Ukraine, picked up Zelensky’s interpretation. He spoke eloquently to reporters on how such an attack by the Russians was senseless in military terms and could only strengthen American resolve to give Kiev all needed support. “Why would anyone attack a street market?” Blinken asked rhetorically.
The coincidence of the disaster and the visit by Blinken was brought out in the Sixty Minutes broadcast yesterday. To those who might miss the point, the Sixty Minutes presenter Yevgeny Popov reminded viewers that Kostiantynivka is situated close to the town Bucha, where in May 2022 a massacre of innocent civilians alleged to have been committed by retreating Russian soldiers raised a cry of indignation across ‘the international community’ and brought about Europe’s commitment to the Ukrainian cause whatever the price. In short, Russian state television strongly hinted that the havoc in a Ukrainian market town on 6 September was yet another ‘false flag’ operation staged by the Kiev regime. “Perhaps one day The New York Times will do a fresh investigative report on Bucha,” Popov said in conclusion.
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Now let us look at The New York Times article of yesterday which attracted the top of mind attention of Russian news programs.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/18/world/europe/ukraine-missile-kostiantynivka-market.html
This is a subscriber only article, but the substance can be read in this Reuters article:
Evidence suggests errant Ukrainian missile hit busy market - New York Times
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The title of the article reads: “ Evidence suggests Ukrainian missile caused market tragedy.” The subtitle goes on to explain: “Witness accounts and analysis of video and missile fragments suggest a Ukrainian missile failed to hit its intended target and landed in a bustling street, with devastating consequences.”
The NYT says that the missile fragments indicate that the missile was a Ukrainian Buk air defense missile. The clearly delineated path of the missile by satellite surveillance and videos taken on the ground showed that it came in from territory controlled by the Ukrainian forces.
To support the article, the paper provided detailed information about its own investigative team that reached the conclusions it was publishing: John Ismay, Thomas Gibbons-Neff, Haley Willis, Malachy Browne, Christoph Koettl and Alexander Cardia. Such openness is not an everyday event at the Times and surely was intended to rebut accusations that the paper had just picked up some news release from Moscow and was acting as a propaganda tool of the Kremlin. Such charges were indeed made by Ukrainian officials after the publication.
However, other Ukrainian officials left open a route of escape for themselves should the NYT evidence be incontrovertible. Per Reuters, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mikhailo Podolyak, “[W]e must not forget : it was Russia that launched the invasion of Ukraine and it is Russia that is responsible for bringing war to our country.”
Note that The New York Times said no more than that the missile which landed in the marketplace had strayed from its intended course, which was supposed to be the Russian trenches located not far from the town at the line of confrontation. On the other hand, the timing of the release of the article could support Podolyak’s charges of some conspiracy against Ukraine at work: the 19th was precisely the day that Zelensky was making his speech to the General Assembly of the United Nations and the report would necessarily undermine his credibility as accuser of the Kremlin of war crimes justifying Russia’s removal from the Security Council.
In closing, I wish to introduce one comment from Yevgeny Popov yesterday that bears on any characterization of the Russian bombing and missile attacks in Ukraine as “terrorist.” He noted that amidst the many missile strikes delivered by Russia on 18 September, including on a warehouse near Lviv that was storing NATO weaponry, an attack on port infrastructure near Odessa, other attacks on a military factory and repair center for damaged NATO tanks in Kharkiv, not a single death or injury was reported by the Ukrainian side despite the vast explosions and fires which ensued. Not a single death! The Russians obviously had taken into account the hour of attack and other factors to minimize such risk.
Meanwhile, Russian television each day broadcasts from the field video reports of civilian deaths, injuries and devastation to residential properties and schools wrought in Donetsk and other Donbas towns by incoming Ukrainian missiles and artillery. And so, we may justly ask: “who are the real terrorists in this war?”
©Gilbert Doctorow, 2023