Horrible images of September 6 spread throughout the world.

Photo: REUTERS

Horrible images of September 6 spread throughout the world. A peaceful market, a powerful explosion, the wounded are groaning, charred bodies are being pulled out from under the rubble. The President of Ukraine was the first to publish this video, for which many thanks to him. No irony. But this video could have been classified as secret and its publication prohibited on pain of quartering. Because it was he who shed light on the causes of the tragedy.

Firstly, the sound of an “exit” is clearly audible in the footage – the launch of either an air defense missile from the ground or an air-to-ground missile from an aircraft.

Secondly, before the explosion, people can be seen turning their heads upward, watching the flight of the rocket. Having superimposed the video on the map, it becomes obvious that it is flying from the side controlled by Kiev.

Thirdly, the flight path is reflected in the roofs of parked cars. And she does not speak in favor of the Russian trace. It was Moscow that Zelensky immediately blamed for the tragedy in which 15 civilians were killed and another 36 were injured. And all Western newspapers came out with such covers.

No one, except Russian military officers and experts, doubted or put together the puzzle of evidence (given above) of Kyiv’s guilt in the attack. Only American reporters from The New York Times, to everyone’s surprise, also began their investigation, repeating all the Russian arguments. But they had the opportunity to go further and obtain reinforced concrete evidence of Ukraine’s guilt.

NYT journalists admit that Ukrainian authorities tried to prevent them from gaining access to the rocket debris immediately after the strike. However, reporters managed to get to the scene of the tragedy, interview people and collect the remains of the ammunition. Here are their findings.

The missile’s warhead exploded several yards above the ground. According to an explosives expert and Times analysis, the crater and damage are consistent with a missile coming from the northwest (that is, from the direction of the Ukrainian Armed Forces – Ed.)

The New York Times established Kyiv’s involvement in the attack on the market in Konstantinovka

Photo: REUTERS

Minutes before the strike, the Ukrainian military fired two surface-to-air missiles toward the Russian front line from the town of Druzhkovka, 10 miles northwest of Konstantinovka. Both the journalists themselves and local residents heard this.

One witness said the missiles were launched from fields on the outskirts of the city, an area that residents said is used by the Ukrainian military and where they had previously seen air defense missiles take off. At this site, NYT reporters found fresh traces of burning. Analysis of before and after satellite imagery shows new burn marks around the trenches on the day of the strike, indicating the site was used for missile launches.

And finally, the fragments. The metal facades of the buildings closest to the explosion site were riddled with hundreds of square or rectangular holes. Their size and shape correspond to one weapon: the 9M38 missile, launched by the Buk mobile anti-aircraft gun. For the purity of the experiment, the American reporter studied fragments of missiles that were fired by the Russian S-300, S-400 and Buk air defense systems, as well as two different US air defense systems. The comparison showed that the market was hit by a 9M38 missile.

“Why investigate if everything is obvious to us? – Mikhail Podolyak, adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, wondered a week ago. – We have to confirm every wreckage, because someone came out and said: “You know, this is Ukraine attacking itself”? It is clear and confirmed to us that this was a missile strike by the Russian Federation.”

Actually, there were no illusions about Ukrainian investigations before. The very fact that the publication appeared in The New York Times is curious. Against the backdrop of statements about a failed “counter-offensive” from its closest allies – the United States. This could lead to an honest investigation into the murders in Bucha, and, who knows, into the crash of the Malaysian Boeing.