Deadly missiles slam Ukraine market; Blinken pledges $1B in aid on Kyiv visit: Live updates

A Russian missile slammed into the eastern Ukraine city of Kostiantynivka on Wednesday, killing 17 civilians hours after Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Kyiv to unveil a hefty aid package and demonstrate an "unwavering" U.S. commitment to Ukraine sovereignty.

At least one of those killed was a child, and at least 32 people were wounded in the strike on a downtown market in the city of more than 65,000 people, Ukrainian Internal Affairs Minister Ihor Klymenko said. Kostiantynivka, in the Donetsk region about 400 miles east of Kyiv, has been the focus of much of Russia's military effort as Moscow seeks to gain control of the industrial Donbas area of Ukraine.

An apartment building, an office building and more than a dozen shops were damaged, authorities aid.

"A regular market. Shops. A pharmacy. People who did nothing wrong," Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a social media post, adding that the number of dead and wounded could rise. "This Russian evil must be defeated as soon as possible."

In Blinken’s fourth visit to Ukraine since Russia's invasion, he announced more than $1 billion in new U.S. aid to Kyiv on Wednesday, including $665.5 million aid in military and civilian security assistance, $100 million for foreign military financing, $300 million for law enforcement efforts and demining assistance to clear Russian land mines, unexploded ordinance and other remnants of war.

“Since I was last here almost exactly one year ago, Ukrainian forces have taken back more than 50% of the territory seized by Russian forces since February of 2022. In the ongoing counteroffensive, progress has accelerated in the past few weeks. This new assistance will help sustain it and build further momentum,” Blinken said at a news conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.

Blinken also announced an additional $206 million in humanitarian assistance, including food, water and shelter for those displaced by the war.

Blinken's visit, which included a meeting with Zelenskyy, comes amid concerns about the much-anticipated but slowly progressing counteroffensive Ukraine began almost three months ago.

"Never go to someone’s home without bringing a housewarming gift," Blinken said in Kyiv. "We come bearing some further assistance for Ukraine across multiple areas, but that assistance doesn’t actually mean anything unless it is used effectively."

Blinken said U.S. and Ukrainian officials were working to ensure U.S. aid is "being used effectively and is being used properly."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Western aid won't alter the outcome of the war, although he acknowledged the U.S. was willing to "fight this war to the last Ukrainian, sparing no expense. This is how we see it. We know that."

Developments:

◾A British Challenger 2 tank was destroyed by Russian artillery in Ukraine, but the Ukrainian crew survived, British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps confirmed Wednesday to Sky News. It was the first Challenger 2 tank destroyed in the war, he said, adding that Britain had "gifted" Ukraine 14 of the high-tech tanks.

◾The European Court of Justice dismissed the appeals of four Russian oligarchs who sought to be removed from the EU's sanctions list.

Is Putin getting desperate in Ukraine? Outreach to North Korea puts spotlight on weapons shortages

Putin's Jewish comments dismissed as 'deep-rooted antisemitism'

Russian President Vladimir Putin's claim that the West orchestrated Volodymyr Zelenskyy's rise in Ukraine because an ethnic Jew "covers up the anti-human nature” of modern Ukraine drew a sharp response from Ukraine's Foreign Ministry. Spokesman Oleh Nikolenko dismissed Putin's "chronic fixation" on Zelenskyy's background as "another manifestation of the deep-rooted antisemitism of the Russian elite." Nikolenko urged the world to condemn Putin's statements, saying there is no place for ethnic hatred in the world.

Putin, speaking Tuesday on state TV, said "Western handlers" put Zelenskyy into power hoping his Jewish roots would dispel concerns about pockets of support for Nazism in Ukraine in the past.

"This makes the whole situation utterly disgusting in that an ethnic Jew is covering up the glorification of Nazism," Putin said.

New defense minister reflects 'serious stand against corruption'

Ukraine's parliament on Wednesday formally approved Zelenskyy's appointment of Rustem Umerov, replacing Oleksii Reznikov following his resignation. The change "sends a signal to the world that Ukraine is taking a serious stand against corruption," said Mary Kate Schneider, director of global studies at Loyola University Maryland. Pervasive corruption is a major reason why NATO and EU membership for Ukraine remain "far-off prospects," she said. Renikov's ministry was dogged by accusations of bribery and graft in military contracts, and keeping him in the role would have been politically costly, Schneider told USA TODAY.

Schneider added that Reznikov's dismissal comes weeks after Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin's death in a suspicious plane crash, and that timing suggests that Zelenskyy wanted to "capitalize on the contrast" and clean house.

Putin meeting with North Korea's Kim a sign of desperation?

A meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin is just one of several indications that the Russian president may be growing concerned as Moscow's war in Ukraine grinds on into its 18th month. As Ukraine makes some limited progress in its counteroffensive, Russian troops in the hotly contested southern coastal area of Ukraine are cracking down on an apparent resurgence of national patriotism, launching surprise checks and propaganda efforts to stave off a possible revolt, a senior Ukrainian Defense Ministry official said Monday.

"I think it says a lot that Russia is having to turn to a country like North Korea to seek to bolster its defense capacity in a war that it expected would be over in a week," national security adviser Jake Sullivan said at a White House briefing Tuesday. Read more here.

− Josh Meyers

Contributing: Tom Vanden Brook; Francesca Chambers

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ukraine war live updates: Russian missile kills 17; Blinken in Kyiv