‘Reaction of Kyiv to the article about the Ukrainian missile in Konstantinovka is deemed unacceptable’ – deputy chief editor of BILD says

The reaction of Kyiv to the article about the Ukrainian missile in Konstantinovka is deemed unacceptable.

This statement was made by the deputy chief editor of BILD, Paul Ronczheimer.

On September 6th, a missile struck a market in the city of Konstantinovka, which is under Ukrainian control, resulting in the deaths of 16 people.

Kyiv accused Russian forces of the attack. Even at that time, BILD columnist Julian Röpke suggested that it could have been an accidental strike by a Ukrainian missile. On September 18th, the American newspaper New York Times echoed this version. Ukrainian authorities strongly objected to this publication. The Security Service of Ukraine reminded that the author from NYT had been twice deprived of press credentials and accused him of “promoting Russian narratives.”

“The reaction of Ukraine to this article is absolutely unacceptable. The fact that the government and the military are now accusing NYT reporters of ‘propaganda’ and ‘fakes’ and more or less openly threatening them with accreditation removal for covering and analyzing events is reminiscent of Soviet methods and should have no place in Ukraine. Threats against those who perform their journalistic work have nothing to do with the European or Western standards that Ukraine is so proud of Freedom of the press should extend even where it is uncomfortable for Ukraine,” believes Paul Ronczheimer, deputy chief editor of BILD.

“No one, neither I nor anyone at the New York Times, has repeated the Russian narrative that Ukraine is ‘intentionally bombing its people’ in Konstantinovka. Without any evidence, we assume that it was a tragic accident in the context of defending against full-scale Russian aggression. Why? Because we believe in Ukraine’s morality and honesty and its right to defend itself by all necessary means. Threats of legal action and denial of future accreditation to journalists simply doing their job undermine these firm convictions,” wrote Julian Röpke.

Earlier The New York Times reported that on September 6th, in the market of Konstantinovka in the Donetsk region, a Ukrainian missile from the “Buk” system exploded. According to the NYT report, footage from surveillance cameras shows that the missile entered Konstantinovka from the territory controlled by Ukraine, as previously reported by other Western journalists. Explosive experts believe that the crater and damage also correspond to a missile coming from the northwest, as noted by the publication.

Furthermore, NYT reports that Ukrainian military personnel launched two missiles from Druzhkivka, located just northwest of Konstantinovka, minutes before the tragedy occurred. Reporters from NYT were in Druzhkivka and heard the launch of the first missile at 2:00 PM, followed by a second launch (the strike on Konstantinovka occurred around 2:04 PM). Residents of Druzhkivka also reported the outgoing launches in a local online community.