Russian rockets kill civilians in a Zaporizhzhia ‘humanitarian caravan’

Today, Russian missiles destroyed a humanitarian convoy in southern Ukraine, resulting in the deaths of at least 23 civilians.

Friday morning, rockets struck a line of automobiles leaving the Ukrainian-occupied city of Zaporizhzhia for the adjoining Russian-occupied region.

Oleksandr Starukh, the regional governor of Zaporizhzhia, reported that at least 28 civilians were wounded in the attack. All of the victims were civilians.

The incident occurred just hours before a speech by Vladimir Putin in which he will announce that the Zaporizhzhia area, as well as Donetsk, Lugansk, and Kherson, are being annexed to Russia under the pretext of safeguarding them.

At least 23 civilians were killed when Russian missiles attacked a civilian convoy leaving the Ukrainian-occupied city of Zaporizhzhia for nearby Russian-occupied territory.

Photos from Zaporizhzhia depicted a road littered with shattered automobiles and at least two bodies on the ground, with survivors sifting through the debris.

A witness reported seeing approximately 12 bodies, four of which were in automobiles, and a missile crater near two rows of vehicles at a car market.

The crash had flung earth pieces into the air and rained shrapnel over the automobiles. The windows of the vehicles, primarily automobiles and three vans, were shattered.

The cars were filled with personal effects, blankets, and luggage.

In one of them, a man’s body was leaning from the driver’s seat to the passenger’s seat with his left hand still gripping the steering wheel.

Oleksandr Starukh, the governor of Zaporizhzhia, posted on Telegram, “The enemy launched a rocket strike on a humanitarian convoy carrying civilians as it was leaving the regional center.”

People waited in line to depart towards the temporarily seized region, to pick up their family members, and to take away aid.

Rescuers, medical personnel, and all pertinent services are currently at the scene.

A pair of plastic sheets were put over the corpses of a woman and a young man in a green automobile in the car in front of them. Next to the young man in the rear seat was a dead cat.

Two dead lay in a white minivan in front of the automobile, which had shattered windows and shrapnel holes on its sides.

The vehicles were carrying humanitarian aid into Russian-occupied area on Friday morning when they were targeted by numerous missiles.

After the Russian attack, there is a bloodstain on the floor of a building near to where the rockets struck (left) and there are smashed cars on the street outside.

A woman identified as Nataliya stated that she and her husband had traveled in Zaporizhzhia to visit their children.

“We were returning to my 90-year-old mother,” We have escaped harm. It’s a miracle,’ she exclaimed as she and her husband stood behind their automobile.

Russia denied responsibility for the attack and instead blamed Ukraine.

Putin is scheduled to deliver a major address at the Kremlin today in which he will announce his plan to annex seized territories of Ukraine.

In recent days, Russian-backed proxy administrations in four regions of Ukraine that are at least partially occupied by Russian soldiers – Kharkiv, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhia – have conducted referendums on the topic.

They allege that the vote was conducted under gunpoint and that overwhelming majorities favored joining the “motherland.”

Ukraine and its allies have decried the elections as a fraud and stated that they will never recognize the results, but the move nonetheless signifies a turning point in the conflict.

Starting today, Putin will be able to convince his own people that Ukrainian efforts to liberate these regions are in fact Russian attacks.

If the public believed the deception, he would be able to intensify the conflict in response, up to and including the use of nuclear weapons.

Putin himself threatened to use nuclear weapons in a speech last week, and his friends, including the head of the security council, Dmitry Medvedev, have repeated the threat numerous times since.