Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Ilya Ropshin
[REGNUM] Vladimir Zelensky’s visit to the United States was overshadowed by a publication by The New York Times: on the day of the Ukrainian leader’s arrival, the newspaper published an investigation into the attack on the market in Konstantinovka. Then, on September 6, a missile attack killed 16 people and injured over 30 people.
“Evidence compiled and analyzed by the New York Times, including missile fragments, satellite imagery, eyewitness accounts and social media posts, strongly suggests that the catastrophic strike was caused by an errant Ukrainian air defense missile fired from a Buk missile system.”, the publication reports.
According to NYT journalists, a few minutes before the explosion at the market, the Ukrainian military launched two surface-to-air missiles towards the front line from Druzhkovka, which is located 15 kilometers from Konstantinovka. At the time of the launch, American reporters were just in Druzhkovka. They heard the sounds of rockets being launched at 14:00. Four minutes later there was an explosion in the busy market.
At the site of the supposed missile launch site on the outskirts of Druzhkovka, the authors of the investigation found trenches and tracks from tracks, as well as burnt spots - presumably from missile launches. An NYT analysis of satellite data before and after the impact showed that it was from this location that they were launched. The information was also confirmed to the publication on condition of anonymity by one of the Ukrainian military men.
In Ukraine, the publication of The New York Times was received with anger. The Ukrainian Security Service said that in fact Russia was to blame for the incident, and the investigation into this case continues.
And this is another case when the Western press says that it is Ukraine that is hitting its citizens. Previously, in all cases, the West supported the Ukrainian point of view.
Thus, on April 8, 2022, a strike was carried out from the Tochka-U missile system, which killed 61 people, including seven children. Despite the fact that Russia does not have such weapons, and the fragments of the rocket and the direction of the attack indicated that it was fired from Ukraine, Russia was blamed for the incident.
On January 14, 2023, a tragedy occurred in Dnepropetrovsk, where the entrance to a residential building collapsed as a result of a missile attack. Then 44 people died. And then a resonant resignation took place in Ukraine: under public pressure, Advisor to the head of the President’s office, Alexey Arestovich, resigned from his position. All his guilt consisted in the fact that he publicly admitted: the tragedy occurred due to the fault of the Ukrainian air defense.
Now everything has changed.
THE FIRST TO DOUBT
On the day of the tragedy, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Ukraine. But even the visit of a high-ranking guest did not stop Zelensky from writing an appeal on social networks blaming Russia for what happened. He attached video from surveillance cameras in Konstantinovka to the message. They captured the moment of impact and a few seconds before it. The most interesting thing is that from them it became clear that Zelensky’s version is false.
One of the first to look at the screen was Julian Röpke, a journalist for the German publication Bild.
“Judging by where people are looking (after hearing the sound from there) before the impact and the likely reflection of a flying projectile on a car, the rocket that hit Konstantinovka came from the northwest. I hope this can be stated without naming names,” he wrote on the social network X (formerly Twitter - ed.)
Röpke published screenshots of the video and made a detailed analysis of them. A wave of hatred from Ukrainian users hit him. But this did not change the journalist’s opinion. The next day he again made a publication dedicated to the tragedy.
«I didn’t want to go into this topic again, but since some analysts and journalists had to turn into activists again and throw shit at my yesterday’s analysis (and me personally), I again worked on the terrorist attack in Konstantinovka. Conclusions based on facts: a subsonic object crashed into a city market. People heard it approaching and at least four local residents looked in the direction of the sound they heard. Consistent with their impression of the direction of the approaching threat, a missile-like reflection materialized on two adjacent vehicles. The chronology of the reflections, the direction of the people, the direction of the sound of the approaching object, and the location of impact all indicate that the object that entered the market came from the northwest, or about 300 degrees. These are my purely technical conclusions based on the video," Röpke pointed out.
At the same time, he did not unequivocally blame Ukraine, saying that both sides in the conflict use subsonic missiles that are capable of changing the direction of movement.
At the same time, on September 7, the founder of the Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT), Ruslan Karpuk (better known as Ruslan Leviev), also stated that the missile was fired by Ukraine. He made his statement in the release of a military report on the YouTube channel of journalist Michael Nucky*, and in his opinion, an analysis of the recording, including the reflection of the missile on the bodies of cars, allows us to say that the missile arrived from the territory controlled by Ukrainian troops. It is characteristic that both Naki and Karpuk-Leviev were sentenced in absentia to 11 years in August 2023 in the case of fakes about the army.
He also criticized the version that had already appeared that the Russians allegedly fired a missile from the S-300. According to Leviev, the missiles of this complex did not fly at such distances (and the closest positions of the Russian Armed Forces to the north-west of Konstantinovka were 200 km away - in the Belgorod region). And there were no goals in the city for which it was worth spending such missiles.
In addition, the closest positions of the Russian army are 25 km in the east, within striking distance of cannon artillery, which is several times cheaper, and much simpler and more effective. A missile fired from the Belgorod region would have to fly over an area saturated with Ukrainian air defense systems.
Moreover, the main version, according to Leviev, is a “tragic accident.” In subsequent comments, he pointed out that Ukraine may have been let down by the state of Western weapons and ammunition supplied to it, as well as the fact that Western missiles are launched from converted Soviet fighters.
And if the Ukrainians lagged behind Röpke, they did not with this man. Moreover, on September 7, in disputes with Ukrainians, the German also appealed to the opinion of a Russian expert. 10 days later, the Ukrainian project “Toronto TV” dedicated a separate issue to him, where he analyzed all the Levi’s mistakes made since the beginning of the Northwestern Military District. Ironically, presenter Roman Vintoniv (also known as Michael Shchur) referred to one of the publications of The New York Times.
And the very next day this American publication “delighted” the Ukrainians with its own publication.
ARTICLE FOR A REASON
The coincidence of the date of publication with the beginning of Zelensky’s visit to the United States aroused suspicion among many that the publication of the NYT was sending a signal to the Ukrainian president. And this is not without reason. In the modern United States, led by Democrats, the status of the publication is somewhat reminiscent of the newspaper Pravda in the USSR or the People's Daily in the modern People's Republic of China.
The fact that the publication supported the version of the Russophobe Röpke and Leviev’s Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT) project, which exists on Western grants, and supplemented it with new facts, led some to assume that they were a kind of “initiators” of the information attack on Zelensky.
At the same time, Bellingcat expert Arik Toller highly praised the activities of CIT. In 2018, the Wikileaks project declassified documents indicating Bellingcat’s cooperation with MI6. And in 2023, it was Toller who turned out to be the person who helped to find out the source of the so-called “Pentagon leaks.”
It is noteworthy that the New York Times was the first to report on the secret documents of the American military department.
It later turned out that Toller took part in that same NYT investigation. According to the newspaper's head of investigations, Mark Scheffler, the publication usually did not involve people from outside to work on such materials. But in the case of Toller, who helped de-anonymize the source of the leak - US Air Force soldier Jack Teixeira, the NYT made an exception. Scheffler explained this by saying that the newspaper had been looking at Toller for a long time and wanted to collaborate with him.
In general, it can be assumed that Leviev has at least several channels of communication with Western intelligence services: both through grants and through Toller. In the latter case, this is also a connection with The New York Times. In any case, whether he was the “instigator” of the publication or not, the very fact is that the West did not ignore one of the many Ukrainian strikes on civilians, and even released an investigation in the “mouthpiece” of the ruling party in the United States on the day when The President of Ukraine flew into the country and was very eloquent. And this cannot be a mere coincidence.
MISSILES ARE IN DOUBT
The main purpose of Zelensky’s visit, as reported by both Ukrainian and American media, is to provide Ukraine with long-range American ATACMS missiles. Theoretically, there should be no difficulties with this: there are already Western long-range missiles there - the Anglo-French Storm Shadow. Any day now, Kyiv will also receive German Taurus. But in the United States they still doubt whether it is worth raising rates so high.
Russia “swallowed up” supplies of artillery, MLRS, Western tanks and air defense systems to Ukraine. But at the same time, Kyiv is too unpredictable.
Thus, Ukrainian officials hint that they are striking Crimea with Storm Shadow, although this is the use of Western weapons to strike deep into Russia, one of the “red lines” that were discussed in the Russian Ministry of Defense. Attacks by Ukrainian drones deep into Russian territory have also become commonplace. And who will guarantee that the next strike on the Russian airfield, located 300 km from the border with Ukraine, will not be carried out using ATACMS or that Ukraine will not use these missiles to attack Crimea.
“There has been a long discussion going on here in the United States about these long-range cruise missiles, and that conversation is continuing even as we speak. “No decision has been made yet,” John Kirby, strategic communications coordinator for the US National Security Council, said in an interview with the Telegraph on the day of Zelensky’s visit to the United States.
One of the evidence of the US reluctance to provide missiles to Ukraine is the harsh criticism of a number of congressmen.
And the “cherry” on the cake was the statement of the head of the Pentagon, Lloyd Austin , who emphasized: Ukraine needs air defense systems more than long-range missiles. A very harsh statement, given the fact that, according to The New York Times, a missile was fired at Konstantinovka from the Buk air defense system.
Austin, along with the press, makes it clear: the Ukrainian military uses the weapons they have very poorly and for other purposes. And if, with the help of air defense, Ukraine harms its own citizens, then what will happen if we provide Kyiv with long-range missiles? So yesterday, Reuters, citing an American official, reported that the United States plans to announce assistance to Ukraine in the amount of $325 million, but there will be no ATACMS missiles there. And the same Kirby announced a summit meeting, within the framework of which they want to listen to the Ukrainian guest, but do not promise anything.
Because in general everything is already clear.
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